Snake in a chain: lucky escape for Australian woman after bite from deadly reptile caught in bike chain

An eastern brown snake tangled in a bike chain on the northern rivers rail trail in NSW. Photograph: Sarah Mailey View image in fullscreen An eastern brown snake tangled in a bike chain on the northern rivers rail trail in NSW. Photograph: Sarah Mailey Snake in a chain: lucky escape for Australian woman after bite from deadly reptile caught in bike chain Woman in her 60s was riding on popular cycling trail in northern NSW when she ran over the two-metre-long eastern brown snake, one of the world’s most venomous A woman in her 60s is recovering after being bitten by a two-metre-long eastern brown snake that had become entangled in her bike chain in regional Australia. She was riding on the northern rivers rail trail near Burringbar, in the Tweed shire in northern New South Wales , when she ran over the snake. Paramedics were called to the incident at about 1pm on Wednesday to help the woman, who had been bitten on the thigh, a NSW ambulance spokesperson said. She was taken to Tweed Valley hospital in a stable condition. According to the Northern NSW local health district, she was discharged on Thursday morning. Eastern brown snakes are highly venomous and have been dubbed the world’s second most venomous snake . They are generally a medium-sized species found across eastern Australia in a wide stretch from northern Queensland to South Australia. Although brown snakes are the most common cause of fatal snake bites in the country, deaths by bites from any species of snake are rare. Challenging extraction The snake catcher Sarah Mailey, who was called to the scene, said freeing the snake from the bike chain was highly challenging because its upper body remained completely free. “Its head wasn’t in the chain so it was free to be able to strike her leg,” she said. View image in fullscreen The eastern brown snake’s lower body tangled in the bike chain. Photograph: Sarah Mailey Mailey said the rider had sustained a “dry bite”, meaning the venom did not enter the woman’s bloodstream. Mailey was eventually able to pin the snake’s head while bystanders assisted in disentangling the chain. Police also attended the scene at the request of paramedics to ensure public safety in the area. The snake was euthanised due to injuries sustained in the ordeal, Mailey said. Unique circumstances Mailey, who has been called out to remove a number of snakes along the rail trail, said the reptiles were often attracted to the underside of the concrete path for the “little burrows and rodents that dig underneath it”. “In April, snakes start to look for where they’re going to spend their time and they move under there,” she said. Venomous tiger snake slithers up driver’s leg on Melbourne freeway Read more “Given that he was probably just sitting there not moving, it wouldn’t have been something that she [the bike rider] would have spotted.” The snake was also blind in its left eye, which likely contributed to the situation, she said. “She [the bike rider] probably just thought