Eric+Worrell,+saved+thousands+of+people+from+snake-bite

=Eric Worrell, saved thousands of people from snake-bite=


 * Eric Worrell** (1924 – 1987) was an Australian naturalist who was interested in the study of amphibians and reptiles. He collected snake venom so that hospitals could make anti-venom for people who had been bitten by snakes.

Eric was born in New South Wales in 1924. When he was six he saw a blue-tongue lizard in a pet shop but was too scared to touch it. But by the time he was 10 he was very interested in wildlife and kept reptiles as pets. He mother got cross about all the creatures running around in the house so he built glass cases to keep them in. Sometimes he and his friends would invite people in the street to come and see Worrell's Miniature Zoo. When he was ten his father took him to see George Cann the snake-man, who showed Eric how to 'milk' a snake to get its venom. He also taught Eric to always be very, very careful, a lesson he never forgot.
 * Early Life**

Eric left school at 13 which was not unusual in those days. He took jobs in work gangs in country NSW and Queensland. He studied drawing and photography in his spare time. During WW2, he was a blacksmith setting up shore artillery to protect Darwin and also lived in Katherine in the Northern Territory. There he saw many interesting kinds of wildlife. He went back there after the war to collect specimens for zoos and museums.
 * After school**

In 1949, Worrell opened the Ocean Beach Aquarium at Umina Beach on the New South Wales Central Coast. In 1951 and 1952 he began the very dangerous job of collecting tiger snake and taipan venom to send to the Commonwealth Serum Laboratories (CSL) in Melbourne, and they used it to make anti-venin for people who had been bitten by these very dangerous snakes. Later on he started collecting venom from venomous spiders e.g. the Sydney funnel-web spider.
 * [[image:Australian Reptile Park.jpg width="320" height="240" align="right" caption="Australian Reptile Park (Source: Wikipedia Commons)"]]Wildlife parks**

Tourists would watch in amazement as Eric Worrell 'milked' snakes in the tiger snake pit. He would pick up the snake by the tail, grab it by the back of the head and then push the snake's mouth to a glass jar covered with a thin sheet of rubber. The snake's fangs would break the rubber and its venom would go into the jar. [|Click here to see how it's done.]

In 1959, he opened the Australian Reptile Park at Wyoming, New South Wales, and in 1963 he built a giant dinosaur statue to attract tourists. (This was one of the first 'Big Things' in Australia).

Throughout his life he made many trips into the bush and never stopped learning about Australian wildlife. He discovered a new type of fish on one of his trips to the NT and it was named //craterocephalus worrelli// after him.

In 1970 Worrell was awarded an MBE* in recognition of his lifesaving role in the development of snake anti-venoms. [|The famous painter Russell Drysdale made a sketch of him]in 1964.
 * Awards and recognition**

Eric Worrell died of a heart attack at his home in the Reptile Park in 1987. After he died, the Australian Reptile Park was moved to Somersby near Old Sydney Town. It burned down in 2000 but was quickly rebuilt.
 * After his death**

The Park is still the only supplier of snake and funnel-web spider venom to the CSL which supplies anti-venom all over Australia. The park has helped to save more than 15,000 lives since it was first opened more than 60 years ago.


 * MBE means 'Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire'. It is an English award not given in Australia any more because we have out own awards.

Australian Snake Man, the Story of Eric Worrell by Roy Norrell, Nelson, 1977 Eric Worrell, [|Wikipedia]
 * Sources:**