nosferatu_dj
22-07-2009, 03:16 AM
Snake forgets it's winter to put bite on woman
BY LOUIS ANDREWS
22/07/2009 7:00:00 AM
An elderly woman was in hospital last night after a snake bit her on the ankle yesterday, something almost unheard of in winter.
A NSW Ambulance Service spokeswoman said the woman called triple-0 and told intensive care paramedics it appeared to be a brown snake.
The woman was picked up from a Macs Reef Road address in Bywong, north of Queanbeyan, near the intersection of Bungendore Road, the ambulance spokeswoman said.
She was transferred to the Canberra Hospital in a serious but stable condition.An ACT Health spokeswoman said it did not appear the victim was in immediate danger last night, but she would be kept in hospital as a precaution.
ACT Territory and Municipal Services parks and reserves manager Daniel Iglesias said the incident was ''very, very, very unusual''.
''If you're a bushwalker in the ACT going into the Canberra Nature Park or going into any of the bushland that surrounds the urban area, the chances of seeing a brown snake in July are next to nil,'' he said.
''Usually snakes ... depending on the season, start to stir by late October [or] early November,'' he said.
''I don't think I have heard of anyone having a casual encounter with a snake in the middle of July.''
Full story in today's Canberra Times
BY LOUIS ANDREWS
22/07/2009 7:00:00 AM
An elderly woman was in hospital last night after a snake bit her on the ankle yesterday, something almost unheard of in winter.
A NSW Ambulance Service spokeswoman said the woman called triple-0 and told intensive care paramedics it appeared to be a brown snake.
The woman was picked up from a Macs Reef Road address in Bywong, north of Queanbeyan, near the intersection of Bungendore Road, the ambulance spokeswoman said.
She was transferred to the Canberra Hospital in a serious but stable condition.An ACT Health spokeswoman said it did not appear the victim was in immediate danger last night, but she would be kept in hospital as a precaution.
ACT Territory and Municipal Services parks and reserves manager Daniel Iglesias said the incident was ''very, very, very unusual''.
''If you're a bushwalker in the ACT going into the Canberra Nature Park or going into any of the bushland that surrounds the urban area, the chances of seeing a brown snake in July are next to nil,'' he said.
''Usually snakes ... depending on the season, start to stir by late October [or] early November,'' he said.
''I don't think I have heard of anyone having a casual encounter with a snake in the middle of July.''
Full story in today's Canberra Times