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THE AGE (Melbourne, Australia) 22 January 07 Snake-bite season at its peak
A man forced to fend off a deadly snake with a garden rake is one of three victims being treated following attacks in two states.
Two NSW men were undergoing treatment in Newcastle hospitals while a Victorian man was recovering in Frankston Hospital following the attacks.
Neil Jordan, 59, was gardening on his six-acre property in the NSW Hunter region town of Kitchener on Monday when a 1.5m eastern brown snake lunged at him, penetrating his tracksuit pants and biting him just above the knee.
"He screamed and I went out there and gave him the rake because it was still coming at him," his wife Cheryl Jordan told AAP.
"He was cornered between the dog yard and the fence to the garden, which is about eight-foot high.
"But he managed to roll part of it up into the garden netting, and then I handed him the spade from the other side of the garden fence and he whacked it."
The Jordans have sighted eight eastern brown or red-bellied black snakes on their property this summer.
Ms Jordan said their neighbour's draft horse had died three weeks ago from a snake bite after it was grazing close to their fence.
Mr Jordan was taken to John Hunter Hospital by ambulance but initial blood tests show the snake did not inject venom into the bite, a hospital spokeswoman told AAP.
But Newcastle's Mater Misericordiae Hospital's clinical toxicologist Geoffrey Isbister said another man had been attacked by a deadly tiger snake and was being treated with anti-venom at the hospital.
The NSW attacks follow the death of a 16-year-old Sydney boy last week after he was bitten by an eastern brown, considered one of the world's most dangerous reptiles.
He was one of three people killed this summer from brown snake bites, according to the Australian Venom Research Unit.
The victim of Monday's snake attack in Victoria was bitten in the southern Victorian seaside town of Somers, the state's Metropolitan Ambulance Service (MAS) said.
MAS group manager Andrew Watson said the man, aged about 60, was moving bricks and weeding when the reptile, believed to be a deadly brown or tiger snake, struck.
"He felt a sudden sharp pain in his wrist and after washing his hands discovered two puncture marks and suspected it was a snake," Mr Watson told AAP.
"He didn't actually see the snake which was interesting."
The man dialled triple-0 and was instructed over the phone to immobilise the wound.
He was being treated in Frankston Hospital, where his condition was described as stable.
Experts have warned Australia's long drought is forcing snakes out of hiding and into urban areas this summer in search of moisture.
Last week, Associate Professor George Braitberg, co-director of the Austin's statewide toxicology service, said snakebite presentations were increasing because of the weather and climate conditions.
"But across Australia we're seeing far more snake bites than we have had for many years," he said.
He said people needed to remain calm and still if bitten and seek help immediately.
Snake-bite season at its peak

Not the getting bitten part, but could you imagine walking into your back yard and having a good shot at observing eastern browns, tiger snakes, and red bellied blacks? Of course to most laypeople, it's probably becoming a nightmarish situation, but it sounds like heaven to me! I guess you just can never appreciate what you have eh?

Well, I hope Australia's snake populations are able to survive the backlash to these few bite reports.
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Chance Duncan
www.rivervalleyexotics.com