Man released from hospital after snake bite
A man in his 60s from interstate was taken from Port Douglas to Cairns Hospital by ambulance last night after being bitten by a snake.
He was released this morning after a series of toxicology tests. He had a pre-existing medical condition. He was holidaying in Port Douglas with his family.
The snake was under the stairs at the villa he was staying at – near where he kept his medicine. He saw the snake and thought to himself, “I am not going to be fooled by the grandchildren with a silly rubber snake.”
The snake bit him when he went to pick it up.
The owner of the villa called snake removalist Chris O’Dowd who took it away and released it.
He identified it as a brown tree snake, which are mildly venomous but can be dangerous if the victim has a venom allergy.
They say snakes do not like the open so follow edges and can go through doors and inside.
Brown trees snakes are very defensive and can put on “a song and dance” and will bite, but their fangs are at the back of the mouth and the snake has to take a big full bite before it can pump venom into a victim.
Even if a snake is only mildly venomous, the shock of a bite can raise the heartbeat to dangerous levels.
Brown, northern and green tree snakes and pythons are the most common in Port Douglas but dangerous death adders, taipans and red bellies inhabit the area.
The two months either side of winter are breeding season when the snakes are most frequently seen, usually resulting in an average of one or more call outs for the removalists.