# Energy worker killed by Taipan



## Sezzzzzzzzz (Nov 8, 2012)

Energy worker killed by taipan - Seven News Queensland


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## Hoplophile (Nov 8, 2012)

Sad news. You'd think that the newspaper would have got the photo right though (one of the pitfalls of "googling" information). The pic is of an Inland Taipan whereas those at Yeppon would be Coastals.


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## Snowman (Nov 8, 2012)

Ambushed?


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## JasonL (Nov 8, 2012)

Poor bloke, ambushed by an Inland Taipan at Yeppoon.... what are the chances!!!


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## BIGBANG (Nov 8, 2012)

tough luck.........must be a cunning Tiapan to ambush a backhoe, it must be hunted and killed!!!! we cant have crazed snakes ambushing backhoe's whats next ambushing road trains and killing the drivers causing hundreds of dead cattle stuck on the truck


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## jairusthevirus21 (Nov 8, 2012)

poor guy.... drew the short straw. Jeeez those things are nasty! but i still want one...


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## Icarus (Nov 8, 2012)

'ambushed'? yes, i'm sure the taipan was watching and waiting to bite a mammal far too big for it to eat... very sad for the man and his family, but terrible journalism.


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## Stuart (Nov 8, 2012)

The media hurts my head...



(Yes I know, not the greatest...)


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## Jacknifejimmy (Nov 8, 2012)

When was the last previous Tiapan fatality? It's been a long time from memory...


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## princessparrot (Nov 8, 2012)

Jacknifejimmy said:


> When was the last previous Tiapan fatality? It's been a long time from memory...



did that teenager survive?


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## SteveNT (Nov 8, 2012)

They avoid people given the chance. I met a coastal T out at Cobourg a few weeks back. It gave me the death stare then retreated. I cant remember a single fatality in the Top End where the snake wasn't being harassed. Sorry for the bloke and his family.


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## Stuart (Nov 8, 2012)

princessparrot said:


> did that teenager survive?



Yes


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## zulu (Nov 8, 2012)

Yeh steve they usually disappear like lightning,could sense the vibrations of a backhoe a mile away,ime guessing it may have been surprised while the worker was on foot some how.


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## Channaz (Nov 8, 2012)

Jacknifejimmy said:


> When was the last previous Tiapan fatality? It's been a long time from memory...



I am curious about that as well.

I know that a certain person claims on his website that a guy died in 2006 after he attempted to catch a taipan with tongs. Although I have never seen any other information about this incident. 

Did this actually occur? Have there been other taipan fatalities (in Australia) since?

- - - Updated - - -

And I should add that it is very sad, tragic news. My sympathies to the family and loved ones of the guy who died.


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## jedi_339 (Nov 8, 2012)

JasonL said:


> Poor bloke, ambushed by an Inland Taipan at Yeppoon.... what are the chances!!!



On bigpond news they had a picture of a corn snake..............


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## Marzzy (Nov 8, 2012)

zulu said:


> Yeh steve they usually disappear like lightning,could sense the vibrations of a backhoe a mile away,ime guessing it may have been surprised while the worker was on foot some how.



I think he would of been taking a piss to not be at the backhoe, though sometimes you just do it next to it.... What gets me is it took 3 hrs to find him 60metres away ?


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## jairusthevirus21 (Nov 8, 2012)

zulu said:


> Yeh steve they usually disappear like lightning,could sense the vibrations of a backhoe a mile away,ime guessing it may have been surprised while the worker was on foot some how.




Uummm no... We have had to pull snakes from under running D9 bull dozers and 40 tonne excavators. And as for those 'snake repelers' that vibrate... Yeh there a big fat lie!!! We use one for demonstrations and most of the time our snake crawls up under it and goes to sleep... lol

Out in the field, a lot of the operators have had snakes slither up right next to then tracks or cross their path...lol


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## RedFox (Nov 8, 2012)

Yeah how often have snakes been found in construction sites but surely if he was in the back hoe it wouldn't have taken them 3hrs.


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## Marzzy (Nov 8, 2012)

Railway bridges are the best when they lift it off to rebuild it snakes galore. Sadly usually ends up with the vens losing there head.


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## dragonlover1 (Nov 8, 2012)

Hoplophile said:


> Sad news. You'd think that the newspaper would have got the photo right though (one of the pitfalls of "googling" information). The pic is of an Inland Taipan whereas those at Yeppon would be Coastals.



at least they used a taipan it could have been a cobra


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## daveandem2011 (Nov 8, 2012)

jairusthevirus21 said:


> Uummm no... We have had to pull snakes from under running D9 bull dozers and 40 tonne excavators. And as for those 'snake repelers' that vibrate... Yeh there a big fat lie!!! We use one for demonstrations and most of the time our snake crawls up under it and goes to sleep... lol
> 
> Out in the field, a lot of the operators have had snakes slither up right next to then tracks or cross their path...lol




When I was drilling we used to get a fair few snakes around our rigs. And they were big noisy ground shakers, snakes did not seem to mind.


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## moosenoose (Nov 8, 2012)

Seriously no need for anyone to die from a bite from any Aussie elapid if you follow the correct first aid. If you are in snake zone, then you should have compression bandages and know how to use them. It's just basic common sense.

However, maybe he didn't know he was bitten and thought it was a twig brushing his leg, perhaps he thought a wasp bit him? If that's the case then it's even more tragic than it already is.

Being "ambushed" is a bit of a stretch though.


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## jedi_339 (Nov 8, 2012)

VenomOOse said:


> Seriously no need for anyone to die from a bite from any Aussie elapid if you follow the correct first aid. If you are in snake zone, then you should have compression bandages and know how to use them. It's just basic common sense.
> 
> However, maybe he didn't know he was bitten and thought it was a twig brushing his leg, perhaps he thought a wasp bit him? If that's the case then it's even more tragic than it already is.
> 
> Being "ambushed" is a bit of a stretch though.



I agree with you 100% there moose, however something doesn't sound right with the story.

I have read two different variants, one said he was walking within yelling distance trying to find a trail through the lantana back to the power pole, the other says making a trail (I think) with a backhoe.

The fishy part is with the backhoe story, why would it take 3 hours for the SES and an energex helicopter to find him when he was 60m away from the group?

the other slightly strange thing is the time it 'allegedly' took from when the snake bit him until he died, they are claiming instantly, however unless he died from a simultaneous heart attack or other medical condition a snake bite doesn't kill instantly, and not if you're within 60m and calling distance from colleagues.

So far I'm not convinced the story adds up entirely.

Still a very tragic thing to happen, and especially whilst working.


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## moosenoose (Nov 8, 2012)

Yeah I can understand some people aren't aware they've been bitten, and their mistaken belief that the wasp sting or ant bite they've put it down to eases up. I guess if you're getting through some heavy lantana or long grass, you often aren't looking around at your feet.

I made that mistake last weekend. I was too busy looking all around me at other things in thick scrub to realize the flipping 2 inch long ants trying to chew and sting my feet through my shoe!! :shock: No socks, and just shorts mind you. Not great snake hunting attire I should add.

So perhaps the poor buggers been bitten, gotten delirious and wandered off to his demise


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## -Peter (Nov 8, 2012)

jairusthevirus21 said:


> Uummm no... We have had to pull snakes from under running D9 bull dozers and 40 tonne excavators. And as for those 'snake repelers' that vibrate... Yeh there a big fat lie!!! We use one for demonstrations and most of the time our snake crawls up under it and goes to sleep... lol
> 
> Out in the field, a lot of the operators have had snakes slither up right next to then tracks or cross their path...lol



He is referring to Tais mate.


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## JasonL (Nov 8, 2012)

I once walked into a vary large EB whilst walking on a metal walkway early one morning, the walkway was shaking badly with each step and I was silly enough to think that no snake would be stupid enough to stay on it, the EB was thinking I wouldn't be stupid enough to walk into it whilst it had its head raised at thigh height in full threat display, but I was looking in the bushes to my side and not in front. Luckily when I was three feet from the snake and I just caught a glimpse and my first thought were %&$# Im in strike range, it decided to flip off and take flight into the bushes....... sometimes things just dont go the way you would expect.


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## Wrightpython (Nov 8, 2012)

Maybe we should cull all tais until we find the one that bit him then again that's 1 to the tais and about 1000000 to us moron humans add another one to us humans after that other thread about old fart killing with bit of wire after it rose twice its length off the ground and hovered there with its head spinning around its body. Ahhhh moronic humans annoy the crap out of me


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## moosenoose (Nov 8, 2012)

Works for sharks, especially in Perth...nobody gets attacked by a shark in Western Australia anymore :lol:


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## jairusthevirus21 (Nov 8, 2012)

VenomOOse said:


> Seriously no need for anyone to die from a bite from any Aussie elapid if you follow the correct first aid. If you are in snake zone, then you should have compression bandages and know how to use them. It's just basic common sense.
> 
> However, maybe he didn't know he was bitten and thought it was a twig brushing his leg, perhaps he thought a wasp bit him? If that's the case then it's even more tragic than it already is.
> 
> Being "ambushed" is a bit of a stretch though.



Yeh tell me about it! i spent half my time showing about 8 operators how to apply a compression bandage after a snake bite. A few of the old blokes had snake bite kits kept in their glovebox or under their seat for who know how long. I asked to have a look at them. I laughed and told them to throw it in the bin... ha ha


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## Fluffysnake (Nov 9, 2012)

In the right circumstances, it is easy to be bitten. On our farm we use a 2 foot length of 18mm poly pipe as a cow walloper when herding. So one day I found one in the paddock buried in the grass . I was about 5 centimeteres from picking it up when it moved. Turns out it was a Dugite. Another time I was spraying roundup along an overgrown drainage channel, the sun was shining, I was daydreaming, I kept feeling a tap tap on the end of my rubber boot. After feeling it a few times, I looked down, and realized a tiger snake had been attacking my boot for the last 30 seconds or so!!! I'm so lucky.
With snakes habitats being squeezed further and further by man, I'm surprised there aren't so many more deaths.


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## abnrmal91 (Nov 9, 2012)

Sad to hear someone has died but the whole story seems a little odd. 

Anyhow at least yahoo updated the story and removed the ambushed comment and replaced it with generally retreat. Taipan kills worker in central Queensland - Seven News Queensland


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## JasonL (Nov 9, 2012)

VenomOOse said:


> Works for sharks, especially in Perth...nobody gets attacked by a shark in Western Australia anymore :lol:



being bitten in half in one bite isnt really being "attacked"...... its all in the wording


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## junglelove (Nov 21, 2012)

OHS should he not have been wearing steel boots and long pants?! Terrible thing to happen though it is always sad when someone loses their life.


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## Jonno from ERD (Nov 21, 2012)

Taipans will go right through long pants, and potentially through some of the fabric steelcap boots. But it's evident that there were several OHS failures involved with this situation outside of correct PPE.


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## cement (Nov 21, 2012)

How long would someone live for if they got hit and venom directly into a vein? Don't underestimate a taipan bite. Its quite possible that he could be dead very quickly.


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## JosPythons (Nov 22, 2012)

cement said:


> How long would someone live for if they got hit and venom directly into a vein? Don't underestimate a taipan bite. Its quite possible that he could be dead very quickly.



Very good point ........venom into a vein, or underlying medical conditions.......there are a lot of variables to consider.


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