'Lil snake boy': Meet Australia's youngest reptile wrangler
Most toddlers are content with wrangling toys, but not this snake-catching Gold Coast boy.
Two-year-old Jenson Harrison is the son of experienced snake catchers and could be the youngest working in the field. He's handled reptiles many adults wouldn't go near.
Home video shows him in action. With a cranky baby keelback cornered, out of nowhere comes a pair of tiny hands to catch it.
"Knowing that it would be a very, very small, and very harmless, I knew that he'd be keen to do it, I just stood aside and let him takeover," dad Tony Harrison said.
Bagging the non-venomous intruder in no time, the two-year-old reptile wrangler has earned the nickname "lil snake boy".
He's the son of Gold Coast snake catchers Tony and Brooke Harrison, fitting in missions with Mum and Dad around his busy kindy schedule.
"Within 24 hours of being born he was under Brooke's arm, catching snakes... every single day since then he's been surrounded by snakes one way or another," Tony said.
Before he could even walk or talk, Jensen has been handling all things scaly, from goannas to blue tongues, and some seriously big pythons.
His dad's prepared for criticism but says it's unfounded.
"A lot of people are concerned, they look at it and think that it's dangerous," Tony said.
"We watch him like a hawk, because he is very enthusiastic and if we didn't watch him it wouldn't be long before he went and grabbed something that would grab him back."
Tony is well known for relocating deadly snakes around the region.
For now his son is limited to harmless home invaders, learning a valuable life lesson along the way.
"To understand that all creatures and all life is very, very precious," Tony said.
