iStockphoto / Ken Griffiths
The ‘Snake Hunter’ in Australia was hospitalized after being bitten by a tiger snake which happened in a manner where the venom directly entered his bloodstream and required two doses of antivenin as his body began to shut down and he suffered multiple organ failure.
Despite being a highly venomous species, bites from Australia’s eastern tiger snake typically only yield one human death per year. But those odds would presumably be a bit higher for a snake wrangler who, although highly trained, are in constant contact with the potentially lethal species.
The victim, Mark Pelley, is known on Facebook as the ‘Snake Hunter’ where he has 80K+ followers on Facebook with people fascinated by his videos of catching venomous snakes. After being bitten by the tiger snake, Pelley was taken to a hospital in Victoria where he remained for days as his body battled through recovery.
In a Facebook post on his page from one of his kids, they shared the symptoms their dad was suffering from along with what was needed in the coming days. They also wrote that they’d seen him stop breathing multiple times as his body went into multiple organ failure:
– His pupils are dilated to 9mm.
– He couldnt’t talk, breathe properly and the hospital asked me to discuss him possibly go on ventilation.
– 2 doses of antivenom.
– No taste, Numb hands, Eyes closed and Can’t see.
– no blood clotting and started haemorrhaging severely.
– multi organ failure.
– incredibly drowsy and weak.
– muscle damage and nerve damage.
– heart irregularities
– he needs antibiotics for follow up infections.
The Snake Hunter has an ‘extremely online’ lifestyle in the sense that everything in his and his family’s life related to snakes gets shared on their social media channels. This has, of course, helped him build a large following on the family’s Facebook page.
It also means that multiple Facebook and Instagram Reels were shared throughout the recovery process. Some of the clips are very hard to watch where he can barely speak or open his eyes as his body was shutting down from the tiger snake bite. He has, however, recovered enough to return home so I feel comfortable sharing a few clips from his recovery here.
This update was 2 days ago which was about 3 days after the tiger snake bite:
https://www.instagram.com/p/C4jtExePbmK/
He was able to arrive home yesterday and be with his family for the first time in days. His story was also picked up by outlets like Newsweek and others in Australia:
Throughout all of this, there was some expensive healthcare involved and he is expected to be out of work for quite some time. A GoFundMe was set up to help the dad and his family as he’s the sole provider of income and it has already raised nearly $40,000.
Tiger Snake Bite: A cautionary tale everyone can learn from
Ultimately, if a professional snake wrangler can be hospitalized from a tiger snake bite that doesn’t bode well for the rest of us. This is a trained professional who deals with venomous snakes every day of his life and still managed to get bitten after his pinning snake broke while handling the snake.
However, his videos above illustrate how effective antivenom can be following a venomous bite. Beyond that, his recovery process showed how even when surviving a venomous snake bite the following days and weeks will not be easy.
First and foremost, the best advice is to exercise extreme caution around venomous snakes. If you ever spot one in the wild, slowly move away. This includes at home or perhaps finding a rattlesnake in the car. Remain calm. Do not freak out. Act cooly and remove yourself from the situation where you can then call in professionals to humanely relocate the snake if it poses a threat to you or anyone else.