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THE ADVERTISER (Adelaide, Australia) 10 February 06 Snakebite dad dies, taipan man critical (Sophie Elsworth)
Snakebite victim Arthur Olds lost his five-day battle for life in the Royal Adelaide Hospital last night as another man was rushed to hospital after being bitten by a taipan snake.
Mr Olds, a 43-year-old Renmark father of eight, was bitten twice on the finger by a 30cm brown snake while he was trying to remove it from a road with a stick.
He was with his fiancee and five of his children when the incident happened.
His eldest daughter, Melissa Olds, 23, from Murray Bridge, was shocked when she heard her father had been bitten.
"I couldn't believe it. We sat with him in the hospital since Sunday and I never thought it would be so serious," she said.
"He didn't go to the hospital to start with, until he collapsed later at home.
"Dad has a weak heart, but I thought he would be all right."
Ms Olds said her father was a great man.
"He was a true blue Aussie. Most of the time he didn't wear shoes and he would wear his blue singlet and Stubbies."
It would be "extremely hard" for her siblings and her father's fiancee, Monique Martyn.
"Dad was a family person," Ms Olds said.
She is the eldest of the eight children, with the youngest six years old.
She said her dad was well known in the Renmark community and was a cleaner at Renmark Primary School.
Meanwhile, a second Renmark man was fighting for his life in hospital after being bitten yesterday by a taipan.
Bruno Stolze, a snake handler at the Bredl's Wonder World of Wildlife, was bitten by the snake during general maintenance and cleaning of the snake enclosure.
Mr Stolze was flown to Royal Adelaide Hospital by a medical retrieval team after he was bitten just after 11am. He arrived at the hospital just before 3pm and was taken to intensive care.
Sue-Ellen Bredl, from the wildlife park, said Mr Stolze was a very experienced snake handler.
Snakebite dad dies, taipan man critical

I can't imagine the grief that this father's kids/wife are going through; something so innocent as helping a snake get across the road only to be nailed by it and have to endure the effects for five long days...very sad. The keeper getting nailed is also a tragic situation and a risk that all of us who do this professionally (or even at the hobbyist level) are willing to take; it certainly opens your eyes a bit at the extreme risks that are taken and the importance of understanding that you can never make a single mistake (which is hard for us less than perfect humans). That is why it is so important to have sound management protocols in place and always find ways of minimizing direct contact (I'm sure that this keeper did the same and yet something still went terribly wrong).

Rob Carmichael, Curator
The Wildlife Discovery Center

>>THE ADVERTISER (Adelaide, Australia) 10 February 06 Snakebite dad dies, taipan man critical (Sophie Elsworth)
>>Snakebite victim Arthur Olds lost his five-day battle for life in the Royal Adelaide Hospital last night as another man was rushed to hospital after being bitten by a taipan snake.
>>Mr Olds, a 43-year-old Renmark father of eight, was bitten twice on the finger by a 30cm brown snake while he was trying to remove it from a road with a stick.
>>He was with his fiancee and five of his children when the incident happened.
>>His eldest daughter, Melissa Olds, 23, from Murray Bridge, was shocked when she heard her father had been bitten.
>>"I couldn't believe it. We sat with him in the hospital since Sunday and I never thought it would be so serious," she said.
>>"He didn't go to the hospital to start with, until he collapsed later at home.
>>"Dad has a weak heart, but I thought he would be all right."
>>Ms Olds said her father was a great man.
>>"He was a true blue Aussie. Most of the time he didn't wear shoes and he would wear his blue singlet and Stubbies."
>>It would be "extremely hard" for her siblings and her father's fiancee, Monique Martyn.
>>"Dad was a family person," Ms Olds said.
>> She is the eldest of the eight children, with the youngest six years old.
>> She said her dad was well known in the Renmark community and was a cleaner at Renmark Primary School.
>>Meanwhile, a second Renmark man was fighting for his life in hospital after being bitten yesterday by a taipan.
>>Bruno Stolze, a snake handler at the Bredl's Wonder World of Wildlife, was bitten by the snake during general maintenance and cleaning of the snake enclosure.
>>Mr Stolze was flown to Royal Adelaide Hospital by a medical retrieval team after he was bitten just after 11am. He arrived at the hospital just before 3pm and was taken to intensive care.
>>Sue-Ellen Bredl, from the wildlife park, said Mr Stolze was a very experienced snake handler.
>>Snakebite dad dies, taipan man critical
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Rob Carmichael, Curator
The Wildlife Discovery Center at Elawa Farm
Lake Forest, IL

THE ADVERTISER (Adelaide, Australia) 14 February 06 Seven times bitten but Bruno's not shy (Ben Way)
The Renmark snake handler bitten by a taipan last week plans to go straight back to work with the deadly reptiles this week.
Bruno Stolze, 66, who works at Bredl's Wonderful World of Wildlife in the Riverland town, was bitten by a coastal taipan on Thursday.
He was airlifted to the Royal Adelaide Hospital and despite four doses of anti-venom, suffered partial paralysis, chest pains, and internal bleeding.
At one stage he feared he could die.
"Death is always on the cards when you are bitten by a snake," he said. "The venom took two hours to take effect and the first signs I had were swollen lymph glands, and then my chest got tighter and breathing became heavier."
Mr Stolze has been handling reptiles for more than 40 years and has been bitten seven times. Despite his near death experiences, the snake handler insisted he would be back at work as early as tomorrow, after being released from hospital today.
"I have been family friends with the Bredls for 45 years and I will return to work for as long as they need me," he said.
"It is important to realise this was my fault not the snakes fault. This sort of thing goes with the job."
Mr Stolze appealed to the public to be more vigilant around snakes following the death of another Renmark man, Arthur Olds, on Thursday night after he had been bitten by a brown snake.
"It is bad when you lose any man but to lose a father of so many children is just terrible," he said.
"I don't know him but the point I make to everyone is don't be foolish and hit a snake with a stick.
"You wouldn't walk up to Mohammed Ali and tease him, and likewise you shouldn't mess around with any Australian snakes."
Mr Stolze said even someone with his experience could learn from Mr Olds' death.
"I never thought a young snake could kill someone like that," he said.
"The taipan that bit me was six foot six inches in length so it was a lot bigger snake.
"That is a fair indication that it doesn't matter what size the snake is, if you are bitten get straight to a hospital."
Seven times bitten but Bruno's not shy

I think the last sentence from the article on the Taipan bite, some up the two scenarios:
"That is a fair indication that it doesn't matter what size the snake is, if you are bitten get straight to a hospital."

John
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"Its no help to hide behind the statement that snake bite accidents are a rarity and that the average Dr seldom or never will treat one. For the bitten patient, it is a matter of life or death, and the rarity of the event is of no interest to him."