Tassie97
Very Well-Known Member
A DEADLY snake tightly knotted itself around a Kentish man's arm for more than an hour and dripped venom until rescuers arrived.The tale of how a three-foot-long copperhead snake came to be knotted around Anthony Bornstein's arm yesterday is not for the faint hearted.''I was leaning on a round hay bale and looking around when a snake started going up my trouser leg. I got hold of him just above my knee, there was still bits of snake hanging out the bottom of my trouser so I knew what it was. Then I turned the head around inside my trousers and guided it back down my leg,'' the 21-year-old Paradise man said.''I tried to hold it down with a bit of bark while I looked around for a bit if wood to hit it with but couldn't find anything, I didn't even have a pocket knife, so I pulled it out and it came off my leg and wrapped right around my arm.''Mr Bornstein was lucky to get a firm grip on the snake's head, which was the only thing stopping him from being bitten by one of the world's most venomous snakes.''I knew I had good hold of him, but before that i was worried,'' he said.''It was pretty strong, like someone gripping your arm. I could feel him pulsing and knew he was trying to pull back so it could bite me.''With the snake around his arm, Mr Bornstein ran down to the house and banged on the window for his father, Ken, who quickly phoned the ambulance as neither men were sure if the snake had already bitten.''Dad got me a cold drink and I put my arm underneath a cold shower to try and calm the snake down as it was frothing at the mouth. Then I sat down in the shade and waited''Ambulance Tasmania paramedics arrived and checked Mr Bornstein over, without getting too close to the snake still latched onto his arm, but couldn't find any bite marks.Snake handler Alastair Ross arrived to find Mr Bornstein sitting on a camp chair outside the family home, looking quite relaxed despite a venomous snake waiting for a chance to sink poisonous fangs into his wrist.''He's a bloody luck bloke,'' Mr Ross said.''If he had let go of the head at all, the snake would have pulled back and bit him.''''You don't know what reaction each individual will have (to a snake bite), but in 20 minutes he could have gone into anaphylactic shock.''Mr Ross and his assistant Cathy Wall carefully unknotted the copperhead from it's tight hold on Mr Bornstein's arm and placed it into a bag.Mr Ross, of Wildlife Rescue, will monitor the snake for 24 hours to make sure it's not injured before releasing it.Mr Ross then went for a quick walk around the property and found a tiger snake, about five-foot-long and also drooling venom, not far from where the copperhead was first found.''He's a bloody luck bloke,'' Mr Ross said.''If he had let go of the head at all, the snake would have pulled back and bit him.''''You don't know what reaction each individual will have (to a snake bite), but in 20 minutes he could have gone into anaphylactic shock.''Mr Ross and his assistant Cathy Wall carefully unknotted the copperhead from it's tight hold on Mr Bornstein's arm and placed it into a bag.Mr Ross, of Wildlife Rescue, will monitor the snake for 24 hours to make sure it's not injured before releasing it.Mr Ross then went for a quick walk around the property and found a tiger snake, about five-foot-long and also drooling venom, not far from where the copperhead was first found
