Snake spotted at Galaxy Land playground, Sunbury

A council in Melbourne’s north is being slammed for its slow response after a snake was repeatedly spotted slithering under a popular playground.

A highly venomous snake has been spotted slithering beneath a Sunbury playground, as frustrated parents say the council failed to do anything about it.

Children had been playing at the Galaxy Land playground on Belleview Dr on multiple days when a long tiger snake was spotted just metres away.

Mum Joanne told the Herald Sun her kids were playing near the slides in Jackson Park about 6.20pm on Monday last week when they spotted the venomous snake in the middle of the play equipment.

“I called the council emergency number and was on hold for 25 minutes trying to get through to someone,” she said.

However, after the phone went through, Joanne said she wasn't taken seriously.

A tiger snake slithers through Galaxyland Playground in Sunbury.

“The gentleman on the phone refused to speak to me and was quite rude and ignorant,” she said.

“I told him we’ve got young kids here and asked what are we supposed to do and he said he will call the snake catcher but if it becomes dusk no one could come out to the park.

Parents say snake sightings have left them terrified to send their children to the Galaxy Land playground. Picture: Himangi Singh

“That’s not good enough.”

The worried mum stayed at the park, warning other parents of the deadly reptile but no snake catchers showed up.

“You got like two, three-year-old children running around and the snake was visibly moving quite quickly so my family stayed but nobody came,” she said.

Another parent, who wished to stay anonymous, said she spotted the same tiger snake the next morning just metres away from her five-year-old son.

“I grabbed my son back and we watched the snake slithering along the logs and he went into one of the cracks,” she said.

The mum said she called the council but there was no sense of urgency to relocate the snake.

“When I spoke to the council they said no one was available to come,” she said.

“It feels like they (council) are happy to put these playgrounds up in areas where snakes lives but not protect the kids.”

Hume council is home to eastern brown and tiger snakes — two of the three most dangerous snakes in the nation.

Local snake catcher Stewart Gatt said he had received more than 15 calls about the Sunbury playground since summer began, but was unable to assist due to council land laws.

“If a snake is on public property, we’re not allowed to remove or relocate snakes unless we get permission from the council because it’s council land,” he said.

“They had a free snake catching service a few years back, which they scrapped. They also had local catchers but they were more than two hours away from the area.

“I’ve had a lot of calls from Hume residents in the last year because it’s quicker and cheaper for us to come out than the local catcher council has employed because he only comes by appointment Monday to Friday but catching snakes is a 24/7 business, the quicker you get out there, the safer everybody.”

Gumboots Early Learning Jackson’s Hill manager Shelly Dowsett said the childcare, which is opposite the playground, often cancelled kinder programs at the playground because of the snake sightings.

“We run a bush kinder programs so when we get snake sighting notifications we don’t go over to the playground at all,” she said.

“It’s absolutely affecting us, especially in the warmer weather, we’re having to make sure that we’ve got additional staff to do additional checks.

“We’re most concerned that when community members are reporting snakes the response is not timely from the council.”

Hume council would not confirm on the record whether a snake catcher had been employed to remove the reptile.

Instead, a spokesman said council land was shared with “many different types of wildlife, including snakes” and urged anyone who spotted a dangerous creature to report it on 9205 2200.

“Throughout the year, Council engages a professional snake catcher to relocate snakes found on Council maintained land to a suitable habitat,” the spokesman said.