Category Archives: Herp Attacks
Australia celebrates Steve Irwin’s life
The Crocodile Hunter’s life will be remembered today in Australia four years after his death.
Australia Zoo on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast will celebrate the life and legacy of Steve Irwin who died after he was stabbed in the heart by a stingray barb while filming one of his famous nature documentaries off far north Queensland’s coast on September 4, 2006.
His widow Terri and family decided the year Irwin died to make the anniversary of the 44-year-old’s death a private day and established November 15 as Steve Irwin Day for the public.
The zoo’s gates open extra early at 8am local time with an official opening of Steve Irwin Day at the Crocoseum at 10.30am local time.
The day will include performances from Australian pop singer Shannon Noll and presentations from Terri, daughter Bindi and son Robert.
Australia Zoo was founded by Steve Irwin’s parents in 1970 at Beerwah, north of Brisbane and has grown to become one of Queensland’s major tourism attractions.
Rattlesnake bite raises awareness at Walnut park
WALNUT – Soccer players at Walnut Ranch Park have been co-existing with snakes for years, but a recent bite has a few people rattled.
Chuck Steadward, 51, of Walnut, said he was trying to pin down baby rattlesnake with a trash grabber last month when it bit him on the hand. He had to be hospitalized overnight.
Steadward, an American Youth Soccer Organization (AYSO) board member, said the snakes are nothing new.
They come out in the evenings to warm themselves on concrete washes or gravel driveways and volunteers scour the fields before games to make sure children are safe, he said.
“They’re pretty common around here,” Steadward said. “We’re actually invading their territory – we’re right up against the hill and they come down sometimes.”
Parks and Recreation Commissioner Tom Pederson brought the issue of snakes up at a meeting last month to raise awareness, he said.
Aside from Steadward, no one else has had a run-in with the reptiles.
That’s not surprising, said Eric Dugan, a doctoral candidate at Loma Linda University who specializes in rattlesnakes.
Like many wild animals, rattlers generally avoid humans and only attack when they feel threatened and can’t escape.
“If rattling at you will keep you away that’s probably what they’ll do,” Dugan said. “If it’s cornered or feels like it has no other choice it will bite you like any other animal will.”
Southern Pacific rattlers are common
in the natural hillsides of Walnut and surrounding communities, Dugan said. They can grow to about 4 feet in length.
While it’s a myth that baby rattlers are more poisonous than adults, Dugan said younger snakes are more agile and active.
“Any encounter that involves you getting close is riskier with the little guys. It’s more likely going to result in someone getting nailed,” he said.
Rattlesnakes eat rodents and have regular hunting patterns, Dugan said. They’re more aggressive when out in the open because they feel vulnerable.
Mary Rooney, Walnut’s community services director, said the park has signs that warn about rattlesnakes, but the city is looking at ways to make people more aware of the venomous reptiles.
“I think caution is really the best method and they exercise tremendous caution,” she said. “We have gotten feedback that things are kind of how they’ve always been, except that one incident.”
Caiman attacks wildlife presenter filming in Argentina
A spectacled caiman attacked wildlife presenter Steve Backshall during filming for the BBC in Argentina.
Backshall was looking for yellow anacondas as he waded through wetlands but was taken by surprise by the crocodilian reptile.
The presenter was treated for puncture wounds to his calf before completing filming.
The incident was caught on camera by crew filming for the current series of CBBC’s Deadly 60.
Presenter Steve Backshall witnessed first-hand the powerful bite of the spectacled caiman when he surprised one in the marshes of northern Argentina, close to border of Paraguay.
Filming for the childrens’ television series Deadly 60, the wildlife presenter’s mission for the day was to find yellow anacondas, one of the largest species of snake.
The film crew were travelling by horseback, searching for snakes from a safe height.
As they traversed the marshes, one of their horses reacted to something in the water.
Steve Backshall’s injuries
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Video footage captured the moment when Backshall investigated what had caused the animal’s panic.
“I jumped down into the water to try and catch it, and waded around in the muddy water trying to find it. Suddenly, my foot hit what felt like a log lying on the bottom of the swamp,” he told the BBC.
The caiman struck the wildlife presenter in the left leg, tearing his trousers and puncturing his flesh.
“It was purely acting in defence, and trying to drive me away, and made no attempt to follow up the attack,” he said, confirming reports that spectacled caiman are not known to attack unprovoked.
“However, it left a series of deep gashes running down my calf, which were pretty gory looking,” the presenter added.
The crew immediately radioed for back up and Backshall was taken to the nearest medical clinic for stitches, anti-inflammatories and antibiotics.
“This is the biggest thing I’ve ever been bitten by – well, apart from my sister’s horse when I was a kid!” he said.
Backshall and the crew were able to complete filming after a short break for recuperation.
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Spectacled caiman are the most common member of the crocodilian family, found from Peru and Brazil in the south to Mexico in the north.
They are named for the bony ridge that appears to join their eyes like a pair of spectacles.
Adults can reach a maximum of three metres in length and have a varied diet, feeding on fish, crustaceans, amphibians, reptiles and water birds.
Find out whether spectacled caiman make it on to the Deadly 60 list on CBBC at 1715 BST, Thursday November 10.
Gran fights crocodile as it eats girl
A girl of two was dragged to her death by a crocodile, after it nearly ripped off her grandmother’s hand on a river bank.
Judith Makwanga, 37, fought desperately to save little Mashozi Dishala, but the croc took her.
Judith said: “I had started to bath Mashozi when the crocodile shot from nowhere and started to drag me towards the main channel.
“I wrestled with the beast and it loosened its grip on my arm but it swam towards the child and attacked her.
“I grabbed it by the tail but it was too strong and I had to let go because it was dragging both of us towards deeper water.
“And it was gone – it disappeared with the child and I started to scream.”
Judith is recovering in hospital but suffers flashbacks.
Officials are hunting the croc in the Kwando River in north east Nambia.
Infant Girl Bites Snake, But Has A Miraculous Escape
KOLLAM, India, Nov 11 (Bernama) — An infant girl had a miraculous escape after she bit a venomous snake considering it to be a toy, Press Trust of India (PTI) reported.
The snake was killed by villagers, in Kollam district of the south Indian state of Kerala, before it could attack the baby, sources said.
The one-and-a-half year old Gayathri was playing in front of her house Tuesday evening when the incident happened.
While her grandmother Shyamala was doing some work in the kitchen, the child took the snake in her hand found at the courtyard thinking it to be a ‘crawling toy’ and bit it.
Though initially Shayamala thought that the child was biting some plant stumps, she suddenly realised that it was a snake.
Neighbours, who rushed to the house hearing her cries, killed the snake after freeing it from the child’s mouth.
The child was then taken to the nearby government hospital along with the body of the snake. The relatives had a sigh of relief when doctors later confirmed that poison had not merged with the child’s blood.
Man survives bite from deadly sea snake
A MAN has survived a bite from one of the deadliest snakes in the world while fishing off the North Queensland coast.
The 46-year-old was on a trawler on the Bramble Reef when it is believed a sea snake got caught in a fishing net, the Townsville Bulletin said.
The man received a venomous bite to his leg about 8am yesterday. He was taken by EMQ rescue helicopter to the Townsville Hospital from Dungeness, near Lucinda.
Three air crew, a doctor and a paramedic attended the rescue.
Crew member Allan Jefferson said, depending on the amount of venom injected, symptoms can appear after two minutes and death can follow just an hour later.
“It took us about 35 minutes to get to him … we swung past the Townsville Hospital to pick up the anti-venom on the way up,” he said.
“Mortality is 10 per cent without the anti-venom, but improves significantly once administered.
“(When we picked him up) he was in a bit of pain, he was uncomfortable, nauseous, there was definitely something going on. He had sore shoulders.”
Mr Jefferson said medical advisers had explained that other symptoms may include increased heart rate, a loss of feeling in limbs, shortness of breath and drowsiness.
“Symptoms can show up to eight hours after the initial bite,” he said.
“Sea snakes are quite common … I see them swimming on the top of the surface in the marina in Townsville, around where the boats are moored.
“I’ve been here (with EMQ Rescue) for over three years … we have lots of stingers (but) this is the first sea snake bite I have seen.”
The man was admitted to hospital just after 10am in a stable condition.
Townsville region lifeguard supervisor Russell Blanchard said this was the first report of a sea snake bite to his knowledge since an incident at Horseshoe Bay, Magnetic Island at the start of the year.
“It was only a small bite, but the patient was taken to Townsville Hospital,” he said.
“There is a common myth that they cannot penetrate the skin but this is not accurate.
“They are not that common in shore waters where we patrol, but they are more common near the reef … the divers tend to have interaction with them.”