Flaviemys purvisi
Very Well-Known Member
2 January 2019
WARNING – GRAPHIC IMAGES: A beloved English springer spaniel is lucky to be alive after an encounter with a deadly reptile in a Brisbane backyard.
Zoe Akeroyd’s dog Meg had been staying with her parents at Corinda, southwest of the CBD, when she was bitten during a confrontation with a large eastern brown on Sunday evening, possibly prior to being tied up for the night.
Meg showed no symptoms of being bitten so it was not until the next morning that Mrs Akeroyd‘s parents found the 12-year-old groggy and shaky.
"My dad was worried she had eaten a toad. He went for a quick look around the backyard and found the snake that she had killed and ripped in half,” Mrs Akeroyd told Yahoo7 News.
As soon as they found the dead venomous snake they took Meg to the emergency veterinary hospital, where she was given antivenin straight away.
Meg has just arrived home and fortunately seems to be on the mend. Source: Supplied
Fortunately Meg is on the mend and has just gone home where she will still need around the clock care over the coming days.
“She is sitting up and wagging her tail and breathing fine and urinating by herself. All good signs,” Mrs Akeroyd said.
"She is still very shaky and tires easily and hasn’t quite got her swallowing reflex back yet (vet thinks she may have been bitten on the mouth as that is where a lot of the bleeding came from).”
It is thought the altercation happened the night before but the signs of being bitten were not noticed until the following morning. Source: Zoe Akeroyd
Mrs Akeroyd shared the shocking pictures of the dead snake online as a warning to other pet owners, adding the vet at Seventeen Mile Rocks had told them they have had an “unprecedented amount of snake bites this season due to dry, hot conditions”.
The Corinda home, where the encounter occurred, backs onto bushland so there have been snakes on the property before.
But Mrs Akeroyd said her father was shocked at how big this particular eastern brown was, explaining it was over 1.5 metres and very thick.
The beloved dog’s owner has described her as a “very silly spaniel indeed” as this is not her first interaction with snakes, but she has never been bitten until now.
“I don’t condone killing snakes, and I am not celebrating the death of one, I am just so relieved she was found in time and will hopefully be ok,” Mrs Akeroyd wrote online.
The vet believes the dog was bitten on the mouth during the altercation with the deadly reptile. Source: Zoe Akeroyd
