The Venom Hunters

Liam Bartlett has just come back from a very scary assignment up in our remote north where the waters teem with deadly marine creatures.

Box jelly fish, sea snakes, Cape York truly is the poisonous tip of Australia.

Liam’s guides on this adventure were a bunch of gung-ho scientists who risk everything to milk these deadly animals for their venom.

They're convinced these highly-toxic poisons may in fact hold the key to incredible medical breakthroughs.

All very well, but getting these nasty critters to part with their venom is not for the faint-hearted.

Special features:

PHOTOS: Liam Bartlett gets up close to some of the most highly-toxic animals.

Full transcript:

LIAM BARTLETT: When the sun goes down, Bryan Fry's unusual work day begins.

BRYAN FRY: Snake, snake, snake. Oh, that's a ripper.

LIAM BARTLETT: He may look a commando, but this Melbourne University biologist is one a fearless breed of scientists in search of a medical miracle.

BRYAN FRY: This is fettucine with fangs. This is an elegant sea snake.

LIAM BARTLETT: We're cruising the rivers around Weipa near the tip of Cape York on the hunt for some of the deadliest snakes on earth. It's not for the faint-hearted. The tattoo on Bryan's back says it all - it's the molecule for adrenaline and he admits he's totally addicted. Gees Bryan, I don't want to jump out of the boat, but it could be an option. So, he'll kill ya?

BRYAN FRY: Oh, he'll kill you.

LIAM BARTLETT: Straight up?

BRYAN FRY: Yeah, oh, you'll suffer for a while, but then you'll die.

LIAM BARTLETT: The method to all this madness is the hope that sea snakes' deadly toxins can one day be developed as medicines and painkillers in the human world.

BRYAN FRY: Here's Mama! That's what I'm talking about.

LIAM BARTLETT: Look at the size of its mouth.

BRYAN FRY: Alright, so we're going to put her in the pen.

LIAM BARTLETT: It's been a productive night and we're heading back to shore with our deadly cargo. Next comes the perilous task of harvesting the venom from our catch, literally milking it from the snake's fangs.

BRYAN FRY: If you want to find a new potential drug item out of a venom, the best place to find it is going to be out of something that's really unique and you can't get anything more unique than a sea snake. The gum gets pushed back like that, penetrates the flesh and the venom gets injected through that hollow hypodermic-needle like fang.

LIAM BARTLETT: Then, goodnight nurse.

BRYAN FRY: Exactly. Let the screaming begin.

LIAM BARTLETT: What type of drugs are going to be possible from the venom of these creatures?

BRYAN FRY: It may seem paradoxical to most people that we're trying to flip things around. Take something that kills and make it something that heals. But if we've got something that kills, it's gotta hit the body in a certain way and sometimes it might cause you to feel numb so you know, you don't really realise what's going on. Well, great! That's an anaesthetic right there waiting to happen. Or it might thin your blood. Well, beautiful! That might be something we might be able to use in the treatment of stroke.

LIAM BARTLETT: Bryan's quest for venomous cures began, not on the ocean but on dry land. When we first met this American-born Aussie two years ago, he'd just surprised the science world by discovering potentially useful poison in goannas. Bryan believes goanna venom carries enormous promise just like the medical breakthrough that came out of the fangs of a primitive and rare Mexican lizard. It's now helping countless thousands of diabetes patients around the world.

DR SOJI SWARAJ: Mr Mills, want to come through?

LIAM BARTLETT: Men like John Mills, a retired fireman from Sydney.

DR SOJI SWARAJ: Good to see you, come in and take a seat. How are you going with your blood sugars on Byetta?

JOHN MILLS: I'm goin' bloody good.

LIAM BARTLETT: Diabetes Specialist Dr. Soji Swaraj put John on the drug Byetta. It's reduced his weight, stabilized his blood sugar levels and, he says, it's transformed his life. Combined with a diet, John's now losing more than a kilo a week.

DR SOJI SWARAJ: OK, so that's saying approximately 128kg. Previously, you were 138kg so that's at least 11 kilos off so that's great.

LIAM BARTLETT: Do you know where it comes from John?

JOHN MILLS: No. If it's scary I don't want to know.

LIAM BARTLETT: Would you be surprised to know that this is made from the venom of a lizard the Hila Monster?

JOHN MILLS: Yeah? Well, keep the lizards alive because he's done a good job.

LIAM BARTLETT: It's a surprise, isn't it, to think that something from a lizard has made such a difference to your life.

JOHN MILLS: Yeah, well, I'm glad.

BRYAN FRY: But that's the inherent beauty of venom research is that you can't predict where the next wonder drug is going to come from so you need to conserve all of these amazing animals simply because of that.

LIAM BARTLETT: And it seems the more poisonous the creature, the more useful they can be. To find the animal with the deadliest venom of all, we've come to Mission Beach south of Cairns. But it's here that mother nature plays the cruellest trick. In a place tailor made for taking a swim, there's no way that without the protection of one of these lycra suits I'd be going anywhere near the water. And here's why - the most venomous animal on the planet - the box jellyfish. A killer that claims at least one Australian life every year.

PROFESSOR JAMIE SEYMOUR: The venom from the box jellyfish acts substantially faster on the heart than the inland Taipan.

LIAM BARTLETT: So, compared to the deadliest snake it beat it hands down.

PROFESSOR JAMIE SEYMOUR: Oh, easy!

LIAM BARTLETT: This time my venom-hunting guide is Professor Jamie Seymour from the Tropical Australian Stinger Research Unit at James Cook University. He's just as committed, just as courageous. He marks the spot, and then, incredibly, wrangles this floating killer with his bare hands.

PROFESSOR JAMIE SEYMOUR: Tentacles on my finger.

LIAM BARTLETT: You got one on your finger?

PROFESSOR JAMIE SEYMOUR: Yeah.

LIAM BARTLETT: Is that hurting?

PROFESSOR JAMIE SEYMOUR: Yeah.

LIAM BARTLETT: Jamie says he can't get a proper grip with gloves, so small stings are just an occupational hazard. What would happen if you got all that tentacle on you?

PROFESSOR JAMIE SEYMOUR: Oh, look, there's enough tentacle on that animal to probably kill 15, 20 people.

LIAM BARTLETT: Seriously?

PROFESSOR JAMIE SEYMOUR: Oh, easily. A minute and a half, it's all over. Your heart stops and that's the end of it.

LIAM BARTLETT: You're holding that with your bare hands.

PROFESSOR JAMIE SEYMOUR: I've got the non-bitey end. That's the important bit.

LIAM BARTLETT: Jamie knows only too well what he's risking. A few years ago he was stung by the box jellyfish's smaller cousin, the Irukandji. As you can see from this footage, he was violently ill and the pain was intense but the stings he's had from the box jellyfish were worse. Can you describe the pain?

PROFESSOR JAMIE SEYMOUR: Um yeah, I've gotta admit it's a surreal sort of pain. It's not a pain that you get stung and it builds up, it's there, bang. It goes to a level straight up and it stays at that level. And the best way I can describe it is, think about a sort of a red hot knife, drag it across your skin, intensify that pain by probably a factor of ten, hang onto it for 20 minutes, and you're getting close.

LIAM BARTLETT: So, I was slightly hesitant when Jamie asked me to help collect the deadly tentacles for his research.

PROFESSOR JAMIE SEYMOUR: So, you take the lid off that.

LIAM BARTLETT: Hang on, how are we gonna get all those tentacles in here?

PROFESSOR JAMIE SEYMOUR: Trust me, I'm a doctor, would I lie to you? You right?

LIAM BARTLETT: Oh, this is not good.

PROFESSOR JAMIE SEYMOUR: Wait a minute, wait a minute...

LIAM BARTLETT: Look at the length of that.

PROFESSOR JAMIE SEYMOUR: It's actually starting to get relaxed so if I could borrow those scissors for 30 seconds. What I'm going to do is pick that up, you put that underneath.

LIAM BARTLETT: So, if I copped all of this now...

PROFESSOR JAMIE SEYMOUR: You're dead.

LIAM BARTLETT: Right, thank you.

PROFESSOR JAMIE SEYMOUR: That's alright. You need to not watch me, watch the container where the tentacles are. That's it. Right. Now if you wanna cut those tentacles off as close to the body as you possibly can. A little lower, little lower. No, no, lower down. Yep, yep, about there, that's great. Yep.

LIAM BARTLETT: That's a lot of firepower there isn't there?

PROFESSOR JAMIE SEYMOUR: Oh, absolutely.

LIAM BARTLETT: And that firepower may become a very effective medical tool. Once they find out why the venom is so lethal to the human heart, they might be able to turn it around. From a curse into a cure for heart patients.

PROFESSOR JAMIE SEYMOUR: Maybe even attach another drug to it and get that to the heart. The things you could use it for will be limitless.

LIAM BARTLETT: To be so venomous, so deadly, it amazes me we don't know more about it.

PROFESSOR JAMIE SEYMOUR: It amazes you? It scares me.

LIAM BARTLETT: It's little wonder Jamie has the utmost respect for these waters and the deadly creatures that live here. He was right there when his good mate, Steve Irwin, died after that fatal encounter with a sting ray. Was it sting ray venom that killed Steve Irwin?

PROFESSOR JAMIE SEYMOUR: No, basically with Steve, I mean there was venom left behind in the heart wound but basically Steve ended up with a 2.5cm tear in the left ventricle of his heart which means he had a slit like that in his heart in the lower chamber which is used to pump and basically, in a nutshell, the blood just drained out of his heart.

LIAM BARTLETT: When he died, did it make you think twice about what you do?

PROFESSOR JAMIE SEYMOUR: You immediately become a heck of a lot more cautious about what you're doing but you can't walk away from it. As I said, if I don't do it, who does?

LIAM BARTLETT: But, like Steve Irwin, you could make a mistake?

PROFESSOR JAMIE SEYMOUR: Yeah, you can, you can. But do you wrap yourself up in cotton wool and sit at home?

BRYAN FRY: These are the protective arm cuffs for the sea snakes, to prevent against bites.

LIAM BARTLETT: Prevent against bites? Well, how thick is that?

BRYAN FRY: It's 5mm and most of the snakes up here are going to have fangs less than that. Most, but not all.

LIAM BARTLETT: The venom hunters are aware of the inherent danger of their jobs and careful to pass on that knowledge to trainees like PhD student, Helena. Do you feel safe around this guy? HELENA: Yeah, most of the time I do.

LIAM BARTLETT: But there are no guarantees. Bryan had told me this species, an olive sea snake, is normally very placid and easy to handle. But watch the snake's head. It bares its fangs and then sinks them into my hand. Luckily, the glove was thicker than the fangs. You said they were placid.

BRYAN FRY: Oh, they are very gentle animals. But, like anything else, if it feels threatened it will turn around and try to defend itself.

LIAM BARTLETT: Well it certainly did that, but thanks to the glove...

BRYAN FRY: Exactly.

LIAM BARTLETT: It was a sobering reminder of the dangers these scientists face every time they're out searching for something new, something undiscovered, that might one day save your life. Is it worth the risk?

BRYAN FRY: Yes, it is worth the risk and not because of the adrenaline side of things but because of the professional achievement side of things.

LIAM BARTLETT: For the science?

BRYAN FRY: Yes, exactly. It's the science that drives me, not the adrenaline.