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"Died Before Arrival"
There is a classification system WIRES uses when we assess injured creatures: cause of injury, the injury, and the creature's fate. This afternoon I had to hike* along the concrete path that runs along the river bank from the centre of town to the zoo. There was a cockatoo caught in the tree. The cause was Entanglement (EN), in this case fishing line had tied the bird to a branch high in a tree. There was no apparent injury that I could see (NA), apart from the fact that the bird had died before I arrived (DI) and was swinging in the light breeze. This movement lead the caller to think the cocky was struggling to free itself, and when I took my glasses off and squinted at the body hanging 30m off the ground, I could make the same mistake.
I called the 'rescue' in to the phone monitor and we came to the conclusion that there was no way we could have rescued the cocky; the branch was hanging over a deep water-hole in the river. While I was on the phone I noticed movement in the sky behind the body, and realized a pair of wedge-tailed eagles were circling over the town. I told the monitor and she joked about "I wonder who's chihuahuas they were hunting." We laughed.
As we reminisced about the young eagle of Trundle and the Shrinking Pack Of Chihuahuas, I became aware of a fellow path-user shouting something. I turned to him. "Sorry?"
"Snake!"
"Where?"
"THERE!" He pointed. No, he pointed in my direction. Hang on... he pointed AT MY FEET. I looked down.
An eastern brown snake had emerged from the thick grass beside the path and was now about a foot away from my foot. The snake continued to emerge before stopping at my feet. Its tongue flicked out and touched my shoe.
At this point Instinctive Den leapt from his cage and, powered by adrenaline, began to scream and flail. Before he could do something stupid, Rational Den and Shit-Scared Den tackled him and shoved him back into the cage and wrapped it in a fluffy blanket. I really wanted to leap and flail and scream but that is exactly the right thing to do if you want to get bitten. I didn't, so I didn't. So my sweat glands took on the job of flailing and in seconds I looked like I'd run a marathon, dripping and wet from standing still.
The snake continued to emerge from the grass and passed in front of me. It even used the toes of my shoe to aid its slithering to the other side of the path. It started to disappear into the grass to my left. I looked to my right and the snake was still emerging from the grass there. The path is 2m wide and the snake was hanging over both sides. After a moment the emerging end started to thin, and then it was just the tail. And a few seconds after that, it was gone.
I became aware of a voice in my ear. I was still on the phone. "What?"
"Are you okay?"
"Yes! A bit freaked out but unbitten." I decided it was now a good time to head home and drink more Jack Daniels than I would normally drink. And that is exactly what I did.
*a whole 200 metres
I called the 'rescue' in to the phone monitor and we came to the conclusion that there was no way we could have rescued the cocky; the branch was hanging over a deep water-hole in the river. While I was on the phone I noticed movement in the sky behind the body, and realized a pair of wedge-tailed eagles were circling over the town. I told the monitor and she joked about "I wonder who's chihuahuas they were hunting." We laughed.
As we reminisced about the young eagle of Trundle and the Shrinking Pack Of Chihuahuas, I became aware of a fellow path-user shouting something. I turned to him. "Sorry?"
"Snake!"
"Where?"
"THERE!" He pointed. No, he pointed in my direction. Hang on... he pointed AT MY FEET. I looked down.
An eastern brown snake had emerged from the thick grass beside the path and was now about a foot away from my foot. The snake continued to emerge before stopping at my feet. Its tongue flicked out and touched my shoe.
At this point Instinctive Den leapt from his cage and, powered by adrenaline, began to scream and flail. Before he could do something stupid, Rational Den and Shit-Scared Den tackled him and shoved him back into the cage and wrapped it in a fluffy blanket. I really wanted to leap and flail and scream but that is exactly the right thing to do if you want to get bitten. I didn't, so I didn't. So my sweat glands took on the job of flailing and in seconds I looked like I'd run a marathon, dripping and wet from standing still.
The snake continued to emerge from the grass and passed in front of me. It even used the toes of my shoe to aid its slithering to the other side of the path. It started to disappear into the grass to my left. I looked to my right and the snake was still emerging from the grass there. The path is 2m wide and the snake was hanging over both sides. After a moment the emerging end started to thin, and then it was just the tail. And a few seconds after that, it was gone.
I became aware of a voice in my ear. I was still on the phone. "What?"
"Are you okay?"
"Yes! A bit freaked out but unbitten." I decided it was now a good time to head home and drink more Jack Daniels than I would normally drink. And that is exactly what I did.
*a whole 200 metres
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Yay for Rational Den and Shit-Scared Den!
Oooh! Have you got a hell of a reply to "are you good in a crisis/under pressure?" at a job interview!
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75.9% ethanol, but it doesn't taste like rocket fuel; this stuff is the Grange Hermitage of rum. If you do get any, be aware that mixing it with anything except perhaps a tiny amount of water is completely sacrilegious.
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Nicely handled, mate. I'd like to think I would do the same, but to be honest I'd prefer not to test the theory. We've already had one "snake-related" injury at work since I started there (although not the way you might think: ranger steps on snake, ranger and snake both freak out, ranger jumps up and down on snake repeatedly out of reflex (she says) before running away, ranger trips over while running for her life and busts up her elbow).
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I love that your response is to make your blood as toxic as possible. :)
You aren't responsible for removing snakes are you? There's a mob specifically for that, you just rescue hurt things?
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My teacher screamed at me to stay still, and I believe there was an argument between shit scared denise and bush denise who knew that snakes only bit if you startled them.
Bush denise won, but I have never forgotten the feeling of that snake sliding across my foot (yes I was wearing thongs to the walkathon) *grin*
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One of the amazing things to watch in situations like this is the reactions of others who are on lookers. They do a total freak out while the person in real danger just does what keeps the situation under control. With few exceptions, when we encounter wild life, if we just go about our business they will go about theirs and no one gets hurt.
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Were the eagles looking at the cocky and thinking 'Pinata!' ? ;)
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(Anonymous) 2008-03-06 07:30 pm (UTC)(link)no subject
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But your adventure takes the cake. I've never, ever seen a snake in the city here which wasn't someone's accidentally released pet. You just had one slither across your toes.
And Uncle Jack is my favorite treatment of choice for all manner of shocks. He's even better when mixed with an ice cold Coke over ice.
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It's the end of Summer here, so the snakes are basking and hunting to fatten up. They are very active.
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except it was helping my parents with a rock garden, and there was a tiger snake under the rock... fortunately it was sluggish. Put down rock, and say blow this for a game of soldiers. ;)
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The only time I freak and flail is if it's no-where near me...and if it's menacing my daughter then it had better run as fast as it's 8 legs can take it! [she's an arachnophobe too.]
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The worst I could manage was a tiny desert sidewinder (read 5 inches long and a baby) years ago, and NOT on my foot! I didn't flail, I just stayed still and observed the tiny snake the same color of stony colorado soil.
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Geelong T-Shirt
You look great - except for that PATHETIC Geelong T-Shirt you are wearing...heaven forbid! Chuck - commiserations about the Charity Shield match (aside from the Grand Final, the most important game in the NRL calender)
Apparently whats his name...oh yeah Craig Wing had a blinder....St George didn't....let's hope that's how the season pans out for those hapless dRagONs! Hugs & kisses to all,
Off to Newcastle the week after Easter, gotta go and pack Winston now...here puss..puss...
Re: Geelong T-Shirt
Re: Geelong T-Shirt
You look great - except for that PATHETIC Geelong T-Shirt you are wearing...heaven forbid! Chuck - commiserations about the Charity Shield match (aside from the Grand Final, the most important game in the NRL calender)
Apparently whats his name...oh yeah Craig Wing had a blinder....St George didn't....let's hope that's how the season pans out for those hapless dRagONs! Hugs & kisses to all,
Off to Newcastle the week after Easter, gotta go and pack Winston now...here puss..puss...
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Sorry to hear about the cockatoo. I've walked along that path on each of my visits to Dubbo, and I photographed a gathering of them in a tree when I was there last time.
http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w158/scottrell001/CockatooTree.jpg
Any idea how the bird could have become entangled in fishing line in the first place?