A DEADLY snake was seen slithering along George St, Sydney sending people into a panic.

Snake handler, Harley Jones from Snake’s in the City, was called to George St around 2.20pm with reports of a red-bellied black snake on the loose.

Mr Jones was contacted by police and two other witnesses to remove the snake from the busy area outside a hotel.

After taking the full grown red-bellied black snake to a Crows Nest vet, Mr Jones said the snake has a good chance of survival despite having blood on its head.

“The snake’s injury is as much of a mystery as why it was there in the first place,” he said.

“There was quite a lot of blood on the footpath, it could be a lung injury.”

Mr Jones said he was pleasantly surprised by the amount of people concerned for the snake’s welfare.

“People were more curious than scared, which is really fantastic to see,” he said.

The venue manager at the Morrison Bar said staff rushed to close the doors and call police as soon as they saw there was a snake out the front.

He said the snake appeared to be injured and distressed, with a large amount of blood on it’s head.

“The staff couldn’t believe what they were seeing and covered the snake up straight away,” the venue manager said.

“You don’t expect to see a massive deadly snake in the city while you are relaxing and having a drink.”

He said none of the patrons appeared to be injured or stressed by the situation.

media_camera A picture of a one-month old baby red-bellied black snake. Picture: Jono Searle

Mr Jones said finding a snake in the CBD was far from a regular thing for him.

“It is very unusual to find a red-bellied black snake in front of a hotel, in the middle of the city,” Mr Jones said.

The venom is poisonous and symptoms include bleeding and or swelling at the bite site, nausea, vomiting, headache, abdominal pain, diarrhoea, sweating, local or general muscle pain and weakness, and red-brown urine.

Although there are a number of bites each year, very few human deaths have resulted and most deaths were in earlier times.

Often bite victims experience only mild or negligible symptoms but some end up in hospital.

But there is a greater risk for children and pets.

The snakes grow to an average size of 1.5 to 2m, with males growing slightly larger. But they can grow up to about 2.5m.

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