In a recent instance of man versus nature, an Australian cattle farmer was bitten by a two-meter-long Brown snake while he was motorbiking and rounding up his cows. Luckily, he was able to fight off the "angry" snake!
According to local authorities, the man had accidentally ridden over the seven foot (2.13 metre) long snake – which then had latched onto his leg, through his jeans. The incident happened near Clermont, a small town 290km south west of Mackay, Queensland, Australia.
According to the Central Queensland Helicopter Rescue Service (RACQ CQ Rescue), the man had fallen off his motorbike after the snake attacked him with a brutal bite. However, he managed to grab the snake's head and pull it off his calf.
The Brisbane Times reported that the farmer told the medical staff that the snake was "so big", he had to use his whole hand to grab just its head. Fortunately, there were other workers present to provide him basic first aid before a rescue hospital arrived.
A Facebook post by the rescue service made on Saturday read: "Fortunately, a pressure immobilization bandage was applied immediately and this correct first aid might just have saved his life."
"He wasn't in good shape with chest pains and feeling very unwell when we picked him up in the chopper and delivered him quickly to Mackay Base Hospital. We wish him a speedy recovery after today's ordeal. Not sure whether you'd consider it a lucky or unlucky tale to tell!"
The RACQ CQ Rescue's coverage area centers around Mackay on the Queensland coast and reportedly, this was the third snake bite victim they airlifted to hospital, within the span of just six weeks.
Thankfully, modern first aid has been able to reduce the number of snakebite deaths to just one or two each year, as International Business Times UK reported.
How venomous is a brown snake?
Brown snakes are one of the most venomous snakes in the world.
The eastern brown snake is a native to eastern and central Australia and southern New Guinea. Belonging to the snake-family Elapidae, the brown snake is considered the world's second most venomous land snake and accounts for 60 percent of snakebite deaths in Australia.
The extremely active, diurnal predator is found in most areas except dense forests. With a particular fondness for farmlands and outskirts of urban areas, its most common prey is the house mouse.
"This species feeds mostly on small mammals, particularly rodents. It has rapidly developed a preference for introduced rats and mice and, for this reason, is often found around farm buildings," the Australian Reptile Park's website explains.
"Such habits regularly bring the species in contact with humans and its bad temper and toxic venom may lead to potentially dangerous conflicts. Despite its reputation, it still performs a very useful function for farmers by controlling the numbers of introduced rodent pests."
