Video of 'Outback Wrangler' Matt Wright's two-year-old son handling giant snake leaves netizens divided; watch viral clip here

There are few combinations more terrifying for a parent than that of a snake and a toddler. But this was not the case for Australian wildlife expert Matt Wright, who posted a video of his two-year-old son, Banjo, wrangling a massive snake. Wright, who is also the host of National Geographic’s Outback Wrangler, has faced flak on social media for the dangerous stunt. The video shows Wright’s son grabbing the tail of a two-metre long olive python, a non-poisonous snake, and pulling it onto the grass. The toddler pulls the python’s tail as Wright encourages him, even instructing him at one point to return to the snake’s tail while avoiding its teeth. The clip ends with the child running towards his father as the TV host pretends that the reptile is going to bite him. The video is captioned “Learning the ropes” and has gone viral on the internet, receiving over 3.8 lakh views till date.

Social media users have been divided by the clip , with several accusing the Monster Croc Wrangler host of needlessly putting his child in danger for the sake of views on social media. Many were concerned that while the snake in the video was non-poisonous, the video might prompt the toddler to pull any snake he sees the next time. However, many people defended Wright, saying that he was exposing his child to nature early, which was especially important in a country like Australia, where living in close proximity with dangerous wildlife was very common. The video also prompted comparisons with the late ‘Crocodile Hunter’ Steve Irwin, who had faced flak for feeding a crocodile while holding his infant son in 2004. Wright had earlier courted controversy in 2017 when he was accused of allegedly duct-taping the jaws of a 16-foot croc that he had caught in a swamp. The Wright family has become famous for their adventures across Australia’s Northern Territory, where Wright often wrestles with massive crocodiles and helps in relocating them.