Australia: Last Day at Medway, Deadly Eastern Brown Snake Found

Just minutes before leaving Medway near Quirindi, New South Wales, this large, deadly, eastern brown snake was found in the scrap pile. It was five and a half feet long. Eastern brown snakes are responsible for most of the fatal snake bites in Australia. From australiangeographic.com.au:

Fast-moving, aggressive and known for their bad temper, eastern brown snakes, together with other browns are responsible for more deaths every year in Australia than any other group of snakes. Not only is their venom ranked as the second most toxic of any land snake in the world (based on tests on mice), they thrive in populated areas, particularly on farms in rural areas with mice.

Curtis Eykamp told me that at his first day at school in Australia, when the family moved there in 1963, an eight year old girl was bitten and died of snakebite at the school. It was probably an eastern brown.

This was the first snake I saw in Australia. The weather is warming up, so the snakes are coming out. I am typing this at the 28 Hotel in Sydney, near the Central train station.  I will be leaving to catch a flight to the U.S. this morning.

I do not kill snakes without reason, but responsible humans cannot tolerate aggressive, living land mines on a farm with pets and children.

 ©2017 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

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