Woman in her 60s bitten by eastern brown snake on Northern Rivers Rail Trail
A woman was taken to hospital after an eastern brown snake wrapped itself around her bike chain and bit her on the hip.
The woman was traveling along the Northern Rivers Rail Trail near Burringbar, about 33km northwest of Byron Bay, when she ran over a 2-metre eastern brown snake about 1pm on Wednesday.
NSW Ambulance attended the scene and took the woman to Tweed Valley Hospital.
Tweed Valley Wildlife Carers called in venomous snake rescuer Sarah Mailey from I’ll Catch It Snake Relocations to help remove one of the world’s most venomous snakes from a bike.
Ms Mailey met police who escorted her to the bike where the injured snake was found tangled in a chain.
“I think (the woman) ran over the snake and it got hit and got stuck on a chain and bit her,” Ms Mailey said.
Police and bystanders helped the snake rescuer to remove the highly poisonous snake from his bike chain.
“Once they were able to help me untie it, I had to contain the snake, put it in a bag, take it away, and unfortunately due to the extent of the injuries, I had to euthanize it,” he said.
“It wasn’t difficult, it was more dangerous because I had to hold my head, I couldn’t fully untie the snake.
“If the public and police hadn’t been brave enough to help, I would have had to hold the snake and wait for someone else to come and help.”
Ms Mailey said snakes slowed down during the winter months but it was not unusual for them to wander around.
He said that they found a place to spend the winter in April and May, and that they stayed there unless the weather got warmer.
“If it gets warm enough, it gives them a false sense of security that it’s warm outside, so they can take themselves outside,” he said.
“They can stay outside for up to half an hour and only go a few feet trying to regulate their temperature.
“When they realize they’re not getting the warmth they need, they go straight back to their chosen spot and then stay there until August, September.”
Unfortunately, in this case, the snake was accidentally crushed and likely ended up near the edge of the track, he said.
“They will curl up and not move a single muscle; from a distance they could definitely be mistaken for a tree, a branch, a leaf or even a shadow,” he said.
The snake rescuer advised people hitting the trails or hiking in the woods to take a compression bandage and know snakebite first aid in case they or someone else gets bitten.
“Eastern browns are definitely one of the snakes that cause the most bites, I don’t believe they are an aggressive species, I just believe they become defensive when they feel threatened,” he said.
