WATCH | Australian man fined nearly $1,500 for taking pet snake surfing

A surfer from the Australian city of Gold Coast, whose video of surfing with his pet python went viral, has been fined nearly US$1,500 by the country’s wildlife authorities, as per Australian media reports on Monday (September 18).

What happened?

Higor Fiuza took his carpet python ‘Shiva’ surfing at Gold Coast’s Rainbow Bay andit was not long after the video of them surfing went viral that he became a local celebrity.

In an interview, Fiuza told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) that he had taken his three-year-old Morelia bredli carpet python at least 10 times.

“She is such an amazing snake,” said the surfer earlier this month.

He also told ABC how ‘Shiva’ loved to be in the water and one day he decided to take her surfing and “she loved it,” adding that her grip is so strong that he was not scared of losing her even if they fell.

“She is big now and she holds my neck really tight,” said Fiuza.

Why was he fined?

It was not long after the video went viral and Fiuza’s interview that Queensland’s Department of Environment and Science began investigating the surfing duo.

The surfer was fined A$2,322 (US$1,495) after officials said he took the reptile out in public without permission.

In a statement, senior wildlife officer John McDonald said while Fiuza had permission to keep native animals, taking them out in public can cause them “unnecessary stress” and make them “behave in an unpredictable way”.

“The python would have found the water to be extremely cold, and the only snakes that should be in the ocean are sea snakes,” the statement added.

Not so strange

Notably, ‘Shiva’ is not the first animal to find fame for surfing at Rainbow Bay, where people surfing with their pets is more common than one might think.

‘Duck’, the surfing duck, is regularly seen surfing with Australian surfing champion Steph Gilmore.

Pork Chops, a British bulldog garnered a large following on Instagram for surfing with owner surf instructor Sam Rollinson before the dog passed away in 2021, as per media reports.

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