Don't Try This At Home Kids

Free-handling a Trials MX Bike
Free-handling a Chappell Island Tiger Snake

These are links to two totally different videos. Watch both and then ask yourself this question: Which one is truly irresponsible? Better yet, are either of them irresponsible?

The first one is a stunt executed on a motorbike in front of a big crowd. These are nice young lads from the Pathfinders Trials Motorcycle Club. Good, wholesome, local boys doing their thing. Try this at home and you will probably end up with a punctured lung and/or a broken neck.

The second clip was a grab from a filming day with Barry Goldsmith, one of Victoria's most recognised wildlife rescue personnel. As you can see, Barry has a penchant for one of Australia's 'less well loved' fauna groups; the venomous snakes.Try this at home and.........well, I am not really sure? It goes without saying that the impact of the venom on Barry's personnel health may be quite severe. But to be effected by venom you first have to be bitten and Barry has never been bitten.

Is free-handling venomous fauna dangerous? I guess it could be if it all goes to custard and you do get bitten. Anything to do with dangerous animals is always perceived to be that much more dangerous because animals have a mind of their own and can be unpredictable. But I am willing to wager that Barry has a pretty fair idea of what George (the Chappell Island Tiger Snake) is thinking and when an adverse action or reaction is imminent. Barry knows that the snake will not bite indiscriminately and without warning.

On the other hand, despite their meticulous preparation and a lifetime spent practicing, Lewis and Alex Nolan will not get any warning when their bikes will misfire and that misfire might very well come just at that critical moment when the bike launches off the ramp. This will cause the rider to fall short on the rotation and he will end up in a world of pain.

However, this is not a critique about the pros and cons of free-handling snakes and bikes; it is a critique of the reaction of the audience to actions of these individuals.

I am pretty certain that Lewis and Alex have never been 'trolled' for their amazing ability to handle their bikes. But I know that Barry has been subjected to an avalanche of vitriol for free-handling snakes and he is not alone. It seems that anyone who is willing to put themselves in (potentially) harms way to really connect with nature is destined to cop a flogging for their efforts, especially if they chose to share their moment on social media. But is what we do really any different from the crazy antics of the Nolan boys or others of their persuasion? I don't think it is, and therefore I really can't understand why what we do lures the trolls out from under the bridge.