Snake Bite

Friday, April 11, 2008

Clinical toxicologist and herpetologist David Williams, 43, found himself at the wrong end of a bastard taipan.

“We were about 25km out of Port Moresby making a doco. The idea was, the snake was supposed to come out of the bag, enter stage left, crawl in front of the camera, exit stage right and go back in the bag.

Unfortunately, it came out in a bad temper and decided to hightail it for the woods. When I came in behind to bring it back, it did a 180 degree backflip, landing about a 1.5m away. From there it turned and launched itself at my leg. I swivelled out of the way, but as its body started to fall back towards the ground it cocked its head to one side and went, “Bang!”

It didn’t really hurt. Taipans have got very long fangs, like little hypodermic needles, so it’s just like a quick double pinprick.

Have you ever been bitten by a deadly wildlife creature? Leave your comment below.

News
Curious dog carries snake to owners

User reviews

mixing beer and cider leads to puffy bashed-crab-face

*Mixing beer and cider causes extreme hangover

Lucky to be alive David, I have been following your work on snakebites and antivenom in PNG etc, and was quite surprised to hear of this little mishap. Of course I had to read it in the Ralph mag, instead of the local paper. I work in the snake infested jungles of the Gulf of Papua and see death adders and papuan blacks and other varieties I don't have time to stop and identify. Death from snakebite is still a fact of life around these parts. Health services as you know very well is pretty much non existent. Next time don't beat the snake in the bag before you release it. hahaha. Purari Prince

Also in this section