BERWICK GAZETTE (Australia) 27 February 08 Long walk home for snakebite victim (Melissa Grant)

A mechanic from Nar Nar Goon North had to walk 40 minutes for help after he was bitten by an eastern tiger snake last Wednesday.

Kyle Osborne says he was hunting deer at the family property when he decided to take a break – which turned out to be much longer than he first anticipated.

“I sat down and put my hand behind my back. I must’ve put it on the snake’s head,” Mr Osborne said.

“It bit my left hand on the knuckle of my little finger.”

With no mobile phone, Mr Osborne then began the inevitable long trek back to the house as his hand began to ache.

Surprisingly, the 22-year-old remained calm despite the puncture marks on his hand from the dangerously venomous snake.

“I wasn’t overly stressed; it (the snake) was only 60 centimetres long,” he said.

“At one stage it (hand) turned purple.

“I had no feeling in my hand but I busted my hand a couple of years ago so I don’t have much feeling in that part of my hand anyway.”

When Mr Osborne returned to the house, family members drove him to Casey Hospital where doctors determined how much venom had entered his bloodstream.

Medical staff took a blood test and carried out a wound toxin check which both showed there was little or no venom in Mr Osborne’s system, much to his surprise.

“The marks are still there; it definitely did something,” Mr Osborne said.

It was the first time the 22-year-old had been bitten by a snake despite his property being littered with them.

“It’s a fairly snaky hot spot,” he said.

“But the snake that bit me was the smallest snake I’ve ever seen on the property.”

Mr Osborne said last Wednesday’s events wouldn’t deter him from doing what he loved.

“I’m always in the bush,” he said.
Long walk home for snakebite victim

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