Perth mother rushed to hospital after suspected tiger snake bite

Tracey Alexander was gardening when she was bitten multiple times on the ankle by what is believed to be a tiger snake.

“As I turned to run from the snake, I think it struck me then got me three times,” the 48-year-old said.

“I noticed there was a scratch on my ankle. So I looked down and I noticed there were three bite marks.”

Her family rushed to her aid and called triple zero.

Her 17-year-old niece applied pressure to the wounds, used a belt as a tourniquet and wrapped the leg with a bandage. 

“She wrapped the wounds very quickly, which saved my life,” Alexander said.

Paramedics praised the family’s quick thinking but highlighted a common mistake.

“A lot of people get this misconception that the snake venom goes into the blood stream so they would use things like tourniquets,” St John Ambulance WA spokesperson Rondel Dancer said.

“Tourniquets will stop blood flow but won’t stop the lymphatic system movement.

“Lay down, stay still, make sure you have triple zero on the way and apply what they call a pressure immobilisation bandage to the limb that’s affected.”