A Queensland zoo worker has stunned her family after posing her 12-week-old girl with a Burmese python for a photo opportunity.
Jenny Cooper said her daughter Lily was well supervised and appeared completely at ease while with the reptile at Australia Zoo.
"They do regular snake photos there — the snakes are really gentle," she said.
"I wasn't trying to get her eaten or anything!"
But snake expert Ian Jenkins, who has been handling snakes for 47 years, told ninemsn the image made him feel uncomfortable.
"A child of that size would be food," he said.
"It really does depend on the snake — you wouldn’t want to leave [her] alone with it."
But he said it appeared the photo had been taken in a safe setting and the snake would probably have posed little danger.
The baby’s grandfather John Baran told the Townsville Bulletin he was initially stunned to see the image of Lily with the python.
"I could see this cute little baby … then someone said, 'that's a bloody snake, is this for real?''' he said.
But he said he now loves the image and even uses it as his computer screensaver.
Australia Zoo could not immediately be reached for comment.
Last June a two-year-old girl in the US was killed after the family's pet Burmese python escaped its enclosure and strangled her as she lay in bed.
Australia Zoo icon Steve Irwin famously shocked an audience in 2004 when he held his one-month-old son in front of a crocodile.
Front page
RSS Feed