The Alice Springs Reptile Centre is a privately operated reptile centre and

environmental education Environmental education (EE) refers to organized efforts to teach how natural environments function, and particularly, how human beings can manage behavior and ecosystems to live sustainably. It is a multi-disciplinary field integrating discipli ...

facility in

Alice Springs Alice Springs () is a town in the Northern Territory, Australia; it is the third-largest settlement after Darwin, Northern Territory, Darwin and Palmerston, Northern Territory, Palmerston. The name Alice Springs was given by surveyor William ...

in the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (abbreviated as NT; known formally as the Northern Territory of Australia and informally as the Territory) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian internal territory in the central and central-northern regi ...

of Australia. It contains the largest collection of

reptile Reptiles, as commonly defined, are a group of tetrapods with an ectothermic metabolism and Amniotic egg, amniotic development. Living traditional reptiles comprise four Order (biology), orders: Testudines, Crocodilia, Squamata, and Rhynchocepha ...

s in the Northern Territory. Animals at the centre include the

perentie The perentie (''Varanus giganteus'') is a species of monitor lizard. It is one of the largest living lizards on earth, after the Komodo dragon, Asian water monitor, and the crocodile monitor. Found west of the Great Dividing Range in the arid ar ...

frill-necked lizard The frilled lizard (''Chlamydosaurus kingii)'', also known commonly as the frilled agama, the frillneck lizard, the frill-necked lizard, and the frilled dragon, is a species of lizard in the family Agamidae. The species is native to northern ...

thorny devil The thorny devil (''Moloch horridus''), also known commonly as the mountain devil, thorny lizard, thorny dragon, and moloch, is a species of lizard in the family Agamidae. The species is endemic to Australia. It is the sole species in the ge ...

s, large and small

pythons The Pythonidae, commonly known as pythons, are a family of nonvenomous snakes found in Africa, Asia, and Australia. Among its members are some of the largest snakes in the world. Ten genera and 39 species are currently recognized. Being natura ...

and

venomous snake ''Venomous snakes'' are species of the suborder Serpentes that are capable of producing venom, which they use for killing prey, for defense, and to assist with digestion of their prey. The venom is typically delivered by injection using hollow ...

s including

inland taipan The inland taipan (''Oxyuranus microlepidotus''), also Common name, commonly known as the western taipan, small-scaled snake, or fierce snake,White, Julian (November 1991)''Oxyuranus microlepidotus'' "Neurotoxic paralysis usually takes 2-4 hours ...

brown snake Brown snake may refer to: * species of the genus ''Pseudonaja'', highly venomous snakes endemic to Australia * species of the genus ''Rhadinaea'', the graceful brown snakes, snakes endemic to North America and Central America * species of the genus ...

s, death adders and

king brown snake The king brown snake (''Pseudechis australis'') is a species of highly venomous snake of the family Elapidae, native to northern, western, and Central Australia. The king brown snake is the largest terrestrial venomous snake in Australia.Razavi, ...

s. The centre is a popular tourist destination, particularly for children. The centre is devoted to

indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology) In biogeography, a native species is indigenous to a given region or ecosystem if its presence in that region is the result of only local natural evolution (though often populari ...

reptiles. Many are collected from local properties or from areas about to be burned under the controlled burning program to keep bushfires from threatening local homes. Most of the reptiles end up being relocated to uninhabited areas. The Alice Springs Reptile Centre also doubles as a snake call centre, with the owner and staff going out to homes to remove venomous snakes from places where they might inconvenience people.

History

Founded by Rex Neindorf, a former reptile handler, the centre opened in January 2000, and features over 100 reptiles of 60 different species. Reptiles from the centre have featured in ''

National Geographic Magazine ''National Geographic'' (formerly ''The National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as ''Nat Geo'') is an American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. The magazine was founded in 1888 as a scholarly journal, nine ...

'', ''Wild Relations – Natural Born Cheats'' on

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

, an American

Visa Visa most commonly refers to: * Travel visa, a document that allows entry to a foreign country * Visa Inc., a US multinational financial and payment cards company ** Visa Debit card issued by the above company ** Visa Electron, a debit card ** Vi ...

television commercial, New Zealand's ''The Bounty Hunters'' television show on TV2, ''Steve Irwin's Great Escapes'' on Discovery's Travel Channel and ''

Animal Emergency ''Animal Emergency'' is an Australian observational documentary series that began airing on the Nine Network on 16 March 2008. It is narrated by Gold Logie winner Georgie Parker Georgina Parker (born 16 December 1964) is an Australian tel ...

'' on Channel 9 Australia. Directors including

Frederic Lepage Frederic may refer to: Places United States * Frederic, Wisconsin, a village in Polk County * Frederic Township, Michigan, a township in Crawford County ** Frederic, Michigan, an unincorporated community Other uses * Frederic (band), a Japanese r ...

have filmed nature documentaries there. The centre added a large

saltwater crocodile The saltwater crocodile (''Crocodylus porosus'') is a crocodilian native to saltwater habitats, brackish wetlands and freshwater rivers from India's east coast across Southeast Asia and the Sundaland to northern Australia and Micronesia. It ha ...

exhibit in 2002, and in 2006 an extension funded by the Australian Tourism Development Program opened, featuring

fossils A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

which trace the

evolution Evolution is the change in the heritable Phenotypic trait, characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. It occurs when evolutionary processes such as natural selection and genetic drift act on genetic variation, re ...

of reptiles from 200 million years ago to the present. The centre is adjacent to Billy Goat Hill, which is on

Crown land Crown land, also known as royal domain, is a territorial area belonging to the monarch, who personifies the Crown. It is the equivalent of an entailed estate and passes with the monarchy, being inseparable from it. Today, in Commonwealth realm ...

. After several incidents which saw reptiles in the centre killed, management sought to convince local police and the Lands Department to increase security on the hill – a spot frequented by youths and itinerant drinkers. Director of the centre, Rex Neindorf stated these efforts have been unsuccessful.

Attacks on animals

2004

On 8 August 2004, a group of youths broke into the centre and attacked and bludgeoned a crocodile with a ladder and pool equipment. A 13-year-old boy was charged with the attack, and received a two-month

suspended sentence A suspended sentence is a sentence on conviction for a criminal offence, the serving of which the court orders to be deferred in order to allow the defendant to perform a period of probation. If the defendant does not break the law during that ...

and was placed on a good behaviour bond for two years, a sentence seen as overly lenient by the zoo's director. A second youth, a 12-year-old boy, had his six-month jail sentence reduced to a month on appeal. The crocodile suffered cuts and broken teeth, but survived.

2008

On 1 October 2008, a 7-year-old boy attacked animals at the centre. The boy, whose name was not released, was accused of breaking into the zoo while it was closed. He was captured on

surveillance video Closed-circuit television (CCTV), also known as video surveillance, is the use of closed-circuit television cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place on a limited set of monitors. It differs from broadcast television in that the signal ...

, after jumping a fence at the rear of the zoo. 13 animals were killed, including a 20-year-old

Spencer's goanna Spencer's goanna (''Varanus spenceri''), also known commonly as Spencer's monitor, is a species of Australian monitor lizard. Etymology The specific name, ''spenceri'', is in honour of English-Australian biologist Walter Baldwin Spencer. Geog ...

, a

turtle Turtles are reptiles of the order (biology), order Testudines, characterized by a special turtle shell, shell developed mainly from their ribs. Modern turtles are divided into two major groups, the Pleurodira (side necked turtles) and Crypt ...

bearded dragon ''Pogona'' is a genus of reptiles containing eight lizard species, which are often known by the common name bearded dragons or informally (especially in Australia) beardies. The name "bearded dragon" refers to the underside of the throat (or " ...

s, and

s. Some of the animals were bludgeoned with a rock, and thrown over the fence to feed Terry, an

. The attack lasted 30 minutes. After his arrest, the boy refused to cooperate with police. He was able to break in without tripping the alarm system, and was reported to be expressionless during the rampage. The animal species lost are said to be difficult to replace. The attack was widely reported in the press, in countries including Australia, Canada, Finland, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, United Kingdom, United States, Italy, and many others. Under Northern Territory laws – which state children under the age of 10 cannot be held legally accountable for their actions – the 7-year-old boy is too young to be charged with a crime, but the zoo director indicated that he would seek to sue his parents. It was reported that the child's care arrangements were being urgently reviewed by the Northern Territory Government.

References

External links

* {{Zoos of Northern Territory 2000 establishments in Australia Zoos established in 2000 Zoos in the Northern Territory Nature centres in Australia Reptile conservation organizations Buildings and structures in Alice Springs Tourist attractions in Alice Springs