A hardworking Aussie dad died after bitten by a snake in North Queensland while trying to help a family member remove the reptile from a childcare centre.
Paramedics were called to a home in Deeragun, Townsville, at about 3pm on Tuesday father Jerromy Brookes suffered multiple bites to his left arm.
Mr Brookes – who was in cardiac arrest when paramedics arrived – was taken to hospital in a critical condition, where he later died.
It is understood Mr Brookes was removing the the snake – which is believed to be an eastern brown – from a childcare centre after being called there by a relative, the Courier Mail reports.
He was not a qualified snake handler or remover.
After being bitten, Mr Brookes then drove to his home to tell his wife, with the snake still in a bag.
QAS acting director of the Townsville district, Paula Marten, said Mr Brookes wife desperately tried save his life – bandaging his arm then performing CPR when he became unconscious.
‘She immediately immobilised the limb and applied compression bandages, and then the symptoms presented and that’s when his wife has contacted triple-0,’ she said.
Jerromy Brookes is pictured
Mr Brookes died on Tuesday after a suspect eastern brown snake (pictured) bite
Ms Marten said the man’s wife had ‘absolutely’ responded appropriately.
‘If you’re not aware of snakes, then treat them all as if they are venomous — contact triple zero and apply the basic first aid measures,’ she said.
A study by the University of Melbourne found 23 of the 35 snake bite deaths in Australia between 2000 and 2016 were caused by brown snakes.
Most people who die from snake bites in Australia are male and are bitten in the warmer months of the year, the study found.
The eastern brown is a medium sized snake with a slender to moderate build and smallish head.
They are known to prefer woodlands, scrublands, and savannah grasslands and are common throughout Australia’s east and southeast.
Eastern brown snakes are most active in spring and autumn.
