A wildlife sanctuary in New South Wales has temporarily evacuated parts of its facility after a woman brought in a highly venomous sea snake. Tiga Cross, managing director of Coffs Coast Wildlife Sanctuary, reported that the woman found the snake stranded on a beach in Woolgoolga and picked it up while wearing gloves on Monday.

"They are one of the most venomous snakes in the world," Cross said. The woman arrived at the sanctuary with the snake, named Coral after her rescuer, in an unlocked basket. As a precaution, nearby visitors were asked to leave the premises.

Cross explained that sea snakes can become aggressive when distressed and out of their ocean habitat. "Obviously, being an animal in maybe not the best contained situation, we escorted all of the guests who were in our cafe and front of house area basically to move out of the area while we collected the sea snake," she said. "We made sure everyone was safe. Just being on land, we didn't want it to be scared and frightened, and latch onto someone."

This incident marks the second sea snake brought to the sanctuary within the week, which Cross described as unusual. "That's probably unheard of for us. What we think has happened is a big swell out in the deep sea has caused an influx of swell, and these animals are washing up due to misadventure," she said.

Cross reassured the public that sea snakes are generally cautious and will not attack unless provoked. "If you're swimming at the beach and a sea snake comes along, it's going to be more scared of you than you are of it," she noted.

Coral will be returned to the ocean once she recovers. Cross stated, "Usually, there's not a lot wrong with them, a bit of dehydration, maybe a bit of shedding; they just need a little TLC before heading back to the ocean." She added that while people often want to help the snakes return to the water, they require care first and must be taken out on a boat to reach deeper waters.

Snake handler Stuart Johnson emphasized that sea snake bites are rare, and the woman who found Coral was fortunate to avoid serious injury. He noted that only two fatalities from sea snake bites have been reported in Australia, with the most recent occurring in 2018.

"They're right up there with our highly venomous species, similar to brown snakes and tiger snakes, and the venom can have similar effects on the body to our land snake species," Johnson said.

He urged anyone who encounters a stranded sea snake to contact a professional wildlife service or handler. "Where we do see and hear of bites with that species is when people have been handling them, picking them up, or on fishing trawlers and things where people inadvertently handle them," Johnson added.