iStockphoto / Yuriy Turetskiy / Ken Griffiths
Eastern brown snake in Australia next to bike chain
Australia has a global reputation for being home to some of the deadliest creatures on planet earth. Among the multitude of sharks, crocs, and spiders is the Eastern brown snake, Australia’s deadliest snake, which is responsible for the most fatal snake bites in the country.
One cyclist is extremely fortunate to have survived a bite from Australia’s deadliest snake after an Eastern brown snake became lodged in their chain and bit the rider. An emergency responder was then tasked with removing the highly-distressed snake from the bike chain while avoiding any potential bite.
Cyclist Bitten By Australia’s Deadliest Snake After It Got Stuck In The Bike Chain
In a recent interview, snake wrangler Sarah Mailey describes being called in to remove the still-live Eastern brown snake from the bike chain after it had gotten lodged and bitten the rider. She says the snake was biting itself and extremely distressed.
Watching her interview on ABC News (Australia) which has side-by-side footage of the snake removal, I can’t help but wonder why on God’s green earth she isn’t wearing protective gloves when handling the deadliest snake in Australia?!
Between the years 2000-2016, there were 35 fatal snake bites in Australia. 23 of those 35 fatal snake bites came from Eastern brown snakes.
They are described as ‘highly defensive’ creatures and will bite if they feel threatened. So in this instance, with the snake ensnarled in a bike chain, it is no wonder the rider was bitten. What is hard to fathom is how the large snake became wrapped up in the chain in the first place.
The rider that was bitten is a woman in her 60s and she was extremely fortunate to sustain a “dry bite” which meant she was bitten by the Eastern brown snake but didn’t receive any venom injected into her blood stream. This incident occurred on trails near Burringbar in New South Wales.
Snake wrangler Sarah Mailey was called in to remove the Eastern brown snake from the bike’s chain and immediately recognized the severity of the situation. The snake’s head wasn’t stuck in the chain, just its body, so it was free to lash out and bite back at any perceived threat. So she first had to subdue the snake before dealing with the chain and all while dodging the venom from Australia’s deadliest snake.
In the end, she was able to remove the snake from the chain. The snake handler believes this particular specimen being blind in one eye led to the bite. She believes if the snake had been able to see the rider coming it would have slithered away and the incident would have been avoided.
Instead, it got twisted up in the bike chain in a nightmare scenario. Mailey said “If it was any other time of year and the snake wasn’t blind, it would have had energy and seen her coming and got out of the way.”