I've done a lot of wildlife education work, and helping people overcome a fear of snakes was always one of my favorite parts of presentations.
In undergrad school I was doing a presentation about the insects, arachnids, and reptiles in our collection. One of my favorites was a beautiful California King who, between his appearance and his temperament, was a fantastic ambassador. My audience that day was a group of nine-year-olds, many of whom were very nervous about snakes - maybe partly because their teacher was obviously terrified and had retreated to the furthest possible point in the room.
I turned on as much charm as possible, and brought out my trusted ambassador to seal the deal and convince everyone that snakes are nothing to be scared of. Just as I got the King into my hands, our huge and definitely unfriendly Bird-eating Tarantula flung herself against the glass of her enclosure for some reason, and the loud 'smack' plus the sight of that big spider caused an uproar. The uproar - kids jumping around and screaming - startled the Kingsnake, who whipped around and bit me on my hand. He apparently hit a capillary, so blood started just streaming down my arm.
It was a freaking circus. I don't think I converted any snake- or spider-phobic kids that day!
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