Snakes alive: How many nope ropes is too many?
Why it’s always important to look first before fixing remote equipment…
Mackay
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IT'S not the first time police radio maintenance staff have encountered an unwanted guest while on the job.
But if you look closssely, you'll see a sssneaky visitor on an isolation panel at Mount MacCartney in the Cathu State Forrest.
It's a sight civilian staff in the Radio Electronic Section would rather have avoided.
The RES team supports operational frontline officers by ensuring equipment does not degrade and there are no radio black-spots between officers and the Police Communications Centre.
In late June, a member of the Mackay RES was about to reach inside the panel to begin work when they spotted a snake that slithered out through a vertical panel and returned to nearby bushland.
"It was a frosty, cold day when this picture was taken and the snake was no doubt simply trying to stay warm," Senior Constable Steve Smith said.
"To be honest, if we had found this guy, we would have been hissssterical.
"But luckily, the person who found him wasn't rattled.
"We have our own suspicions about what type of snake this was, however if you think you can help us identify it, email crimeprevention.MKY@police.qld.gov.au."
In 2016, RES staff had three snake encounters while doing maintenance work on the Blue Mountain tower site.
See the hose-like tube running across the fitted radio terminal? That's a 1.2m eastern brown that was released into nearby bushland.
But he was not content out in the cold and found his way back to warmth.
The RES team did not spot him this time, though, and he got his first chopper ride back to Mackay.
"Forget snakes on a plane - in a chopper, no one can hear you scream," Sen Const Smith said at the time.
He said the snake also got a car ride back to the RES office before being reunited with old friends.
When Sen Const Smith was taking photos of the snake and the computer terminal, he got another surprise.
"Yep. Two snakes were living in the terminal this time," he said back in 2016.
"The RES officer who had carried the computer terminal all the way from the hillside, into the chopper, into the car and back into the office turned white and sat down.
"The informal reckoning is that they are both juvenile red bellied black snakes, but we will stand corrected if proven wrong.
"After an exhaustively thorough search of the computer tower was completed - we did not know if there were going to be any more - the two snakes were humanely transported to bushland in Bucasia and appeared to be much happier away from scary and inquisitive police officers."
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