Trainer Profile - Andre van Paridon

Andre came to Australia at the age of two from Amsterdam, Holland. At an early age he developed a strong interest in the natural environment and spent much of his childhood roaming the hills near Elizabeth (the new family home) searching for anything that crawled, climbed, hopped or flew.

He caught his first brown snake at the age of 12 when he thought it would be a good idea to pop it into a shoe box and bring home to show his city born and raised Mother.

His parents hoped he would grow out of this obsession, and encouraged him to get a "proper job" as a motor mechanic, which he did for 30 years before taking a sea change and landing a job as an animal attendant at Cleland Wildlife Park in 1992.

Finally able to pursue his passion, Andre quickly built up a large base of expert's to feed his thirst for knowledge.

Through membership of the Marsupial Society, Andre met Geoff Coombe, whose passion for venomous reptiles was contagious. Later, Andre joined Geoff at the Adelaide Snake Catchers where he learned snake handling skills at Saturday afternoon get togethers.

Andre is the principal venomous snake trainer for staff at Cleland Wildlife Park, as well as being the Birdkeeper (another of his passions).

Andre also has a large personal collection of native birds and animals on the family property, Curlew Hill Sanctuary, where he has built a vermin proof fence around 5 acres of bushland including a man made wetland.