Children and parents at Weston Park playground got a shock on Sunday afternoon when their play time was interrupted by a snake sighting.
Gavin Smith from ACT Snake Removals was called to the Weston Park playground on Sunday afternoon to catch an eastern brown snake, just metres from play equipment.
He praised all the people calmly surrounding the snake as he arrived to return it to a safe environment.
"You need to be so careful and attuned to their behaviour to do it in a safe way," Mr Smith said.
"[The bystanders] were completely still and they're all just watching where that snake is. As soon as I turned up they said 'there it is' and that makes my job so much easier.
Rescue and release of good-sized #Easternbrown snake (Pseudonaja textilis) from kids playground in #WestonPark set against the moving sounds of Sam Roberts 💚 #Cbr#Canberra#BushCapital#Wildlife#WildOzpic.twitter.com/c3wZBjCJiq
— Gavin Smith (@gavin_jd_smith) October 18, 2020
"In the video you can see they're all spaced out, no one is harassing the snake, no one is trying to hurt the snake and the snake is really calm."
Mr Smith quickly put the brown snake in a bag and relocated it to a grassy area away from the families enjoying the park.
He said in the coming weeks and months snakes would be seen more regularly and expected calls for his service to increase as snakes venture out for food, sun and to breed.
Mr Smith runs one of Canberra's several snake removal businesses and with a strong social media presence said the internet had played a big role in bringing more awareness to reptile sightings.
"I definitely think the visibility of snakes in public life through the internet and social media has been a big factor [in raising] people's awareness," he said.
Although it was a great way to engage and educate people about snakes, many myths still circulated, he said.
The biggest one Mr Smith wanted to address was that snakes weren't aggressive creatures.
"I never want to downplay the potential for them to deliver a fatal bite if they are interacted with," he said.
"But it's all about how we act around them, that's the key thing.
"If we act calmly and give them room and respect and stillness, then they're going to go on their way and they don't want to have a confrontation with us."
