An Australian man was hospitalized after he was bitten Monday by a deadly snake that launched itself at him with its mouth open and fangs out.
Mark Pelley, a snake catcher based in the outskirts of Melbourne, was bitten by the eastern brown snake while on a job, a post on his business Facebook account said.
Australia is home to a number of venomous snakes, with the eastern brown (Pseudonaja textilis) considered to be among the most formidable. These snakes, which can reach almost 8 feet in length, are found across the eastern half of Australia and are often seen in populated areas. They are one of nine species of venomous brown snake in the genus (species group) Pseudonaja, all of which are native to Australia.
SNAKE HUNTER DOWN…Aishah here everyone. Last night was one of the hardest nights of my sisters and my life.At 6:45pm dad went to a house in Doreen and was exhausted after multiple days…
By some measures, eastern brown snakes are believed to have the second most toxic venom of any land snake in the world, data from the University of Melbourne’s Australian Venom Research Unit shows.
Their venom contains a range of powerful neurotoxins and anticoagulants that can stop blood from clotting and cause such symptoms as diarrhea, dizziness, renal failure, convulsions, paralysis and cardiac arrest. Deaths resulting from an eastern brown snake bite are usually the result of cardiac arrest or bleeding in the brain.
Snakebites in Australia are not common, with around 3,000 cases, 500 hospital admissions and an average of about two deaths recorded each year among a population of more than 25 million, according to a study in the journal Toxins.
But brown snakes as a group were responsible for more deaths in Australia between 2000 and 2016 than any other snake, with 23 recorded fatalities in this period, a study in the journal Toxicon shows.
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On Monday, Pelley was called to a house in the suburbs of Melbourne to catch and remove a snake. He arrived shortly before 7 p.m. but was “exhausted” after several days of catching snakes with “minimal” sleep, his daughter Aishah said in the Facebook post.
At the property, he found the eastern brown snake, which launched itself at him as he was trying to catch it. The fangs of the snake grazed the tip of Pelley’s left index finger, but he managed to catch the “feisty” snake and take it away safely.
The snake catcher then wrapped his hand in a bandage before calling emergency services and driving around three minutes to his home, one-handed, where he waited for paramedics.
He was then rushed to a hospital, where doctors conducted a series of blood tests and took care of him over the course of the evening.
“Last night was one of the hardest nights of my sisters and my life,” his daughter said in the post.
Pelley recovered quickly and medical staff cleared him for discharge the following morning. He went back to work the same day, catching six snakes on Tuesday.
Eastern brown snakes, which are very fast-moving, have a reputation for being aggressive, but Pelley said on his Snake Hunter website that this is not the case. In general, these snakes act aggressively only if they feel threatened, as when someone tries to handle or attack them.
Newsweek has contacted the Snake Hunter site for comment.
