A SUNSHINE Coast snake catcher has been fined $7500 for illegally releasing snakes after a public tip-off about incriminating YouTube clips.
Wildlife carer David Dixon Jolly, 72, pleaded guilty in Maroochydore Magistrates Court on today to 62 charges of breaching nature conservation laws.
He was charged with keeping snakes captured from the wild without the appropriate permit.
Jolly also illegally purchased three woma pythons, a vulnerable species he did not have permits to keep.
The court heard he disregarded conditions on his wildlife permit, which required him to release captured snakes as close to the place of capture as possible.
Instead, he kept the animals or gave them to other people to release.
Jolly was found in possession of 48 snakes at his Currimundi home in February.
Members of the public alerted authorities to YouTube clips showing two of Jolly’s associates capturing and releasing snakes on the Sunshine Coast.