Experts are urgently warning Australians to be careful around snakes after a much-loved dad died after being bitten in Queensland.
Jerromy Brookes, 47, was fatally bitten by an eastern brown snake while trying to remove it from a nursery in Townsville at 3pm on Tuesday.
The father-of-three suffered multiple bites to his left arm and was rushed to Townsville Hospital in a critical condition, but died shortly afterwards due to cardiac arrest.
Brookes has been honored for his bravery, but some people wonder why he tried to remove the snake and at whose request. He was not a qualified snake handler or remover.
A bite from an eastern brown snake can kill an adult in less than 30 minutes and is responsible for the largest number of snake-related deaths in the country.
Jerromy Brookes, 47, was fatally bitten by an eastern brown snake while trying to remove it from a daycare in Townsville, Queensland, at 3pm on Tuesday.
A bite from an eastern brown snake can kill an adult in less than 30 minutes and they are responsible for the largest number of snake deaths in the country.
After being bitten, but before suffering serious symptoms, Brookes managed to drive home to tell his wife, with the snake still in a bag.
Townsville District Queensland Ambulance Service Acting Director Paula Marten said Brookes’ wife desperately tried to save his life.
She performed CPR until paramedics arrived when he fell unconscious after she tried to stop the flow of poison by bandaging his arm.
“He immediately immobilized the limb and applied pressure bandages, and then the symptoms occurred and that’s when his wife contacted triple-0,” he said.
Bryan Fry, a snake researcher and biologist at the University of Queensland, said many bite victims don’t know they are in danger until it is too late.
“They are the only snakes in the world that regularly kill people in less than 15 minutes,” Professor Fry he told ABC.
“Once the symptoms appear, it’s like falling off a cliff, it’s very fast and absolutely catastrophic.”
As a result of this delay, some do not seek medical attention immediately, only to suddenly collapse or suffer a heart attack.
Geoff Isbister, a clinical toxicology researcher at Newcastle University, added that the majority of eastern brown snake deaths occur outside of hospital.
The species has very small fangs and some people do not even have a visible bite, he said.
Other species such as Tiger snakes, taipans, death adders and black snakes cause immediate damage. nausea, vomiting, headaches and abdominal pain.
Eastern brown snakes also have an added level of danger because of how difficult they are to spot in the wild.
Sunshine Coast snake catcher Dan Rumsey said snakes were not always brown, causing many people to confuse them with other species.
“Misidentification causes a lot of stings where people think they know what they’re looking at, even experts are sometimes wrong,” he told ABC.
They are often confused with tiger snakes due to their similar orange markings and colors.
Snake researcher Bryan Fry said the bite typically kills victims within 15 minutes.
Triple 0 calls for snake bites are increasing in Queensland with 986 made in 2023
Queensland paramedics attended 986 snakebite-related calls in 2023, up from 846 in 2022.
Experts are looking for new ways to prevent and treat bites, but Professor Fry said there are limitations to what the medicine can do.
“The antivenom for adult brown snakes does not work against very early hatchlings,” he said.
Anyone who sees a snake should always avoid it unless they are a trained professional, but if the snake manages to bite you it is best to stay calm.
Snakes only bite in self-defense, Professor Fry said, and the best thing to do is stay away and call a snake catcher if one needs to be removed.