While it always pays to be cautious, it’s time to be doubly careful about where you set up camp, what you tread on when you’re on a bushwalk … and what’s in there with you when you close the door at the drop toilet!
What has been the warmest winter on record in many parts of the country and a sizzling start to spring has brought Australia’s army of snakes out of hibernation in good time.
In New South Wales alone, ambulance officers were called to 22 snake bite incidents between July 21 and September 22 … and that’s well before summer has even started.
The youngest victim was a 16-month-old boy who was lucky to survive being bitten by an eastern brown snake at his home at Myall Creek in northern NSW, while the oldest snake victim was an 81-year-old man bitten on the ankle at Ashford near Inverell.
It’s been a similar story elsewhere in the country. In the central Queensland town of Blackwater, one vet was presented with five separate incidents of dogs being bitten by a snake in a single week. They were suffering suffering from a mixture of eastern brown and taipan bites.
“Snakes began moving in the last two weeks and are very active at the moment,” vet Dr David Beale told the Central Queensland Times. “With the number of animals treated, and considering how active snakes are, it is necessary to warn people that the likely intensity of incidents this summer will be high.”
Experts say that snakes are not naturally aggressive and always prefer to retreat. They only attack humans if hurt, provoked or cornered, with most bites occurring when people tried to kill or capture snakes.
If grey nomads or other travellers come across a snake in the bush, they are advised to back slowly away and leave the snake alone.
Have you seen any snakes this year? What’s the scariest snake encounter you’ve had while on the road? Comment below.
The Eastern Brown is the most venomous snake in the world, it is controlled by the Red Belly Black [which eats it]. Unfortuneatly people see a RB Black and kill it so the the Brown breed faster.
Roite. That’s the last time I eat a red belly black.