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BRISBANE - A young kelpie named Tess is being hailed a lifesaver after defending its owner from an attack by a deadly snake on the Gold Coast.
But the heroic pet has only a 50-50 chance of survival after being bitten by the giant eastern brown.
Fay Palethorpe, a 68-year-old retiree from Ingleside, was gardening on her 8ha property on Sunday morning when she encountered the brown snake which, at over 2m long, was the biggest she had ever seen.
"[It was] huge - it would have been over six feet (1.80m) long," Palethorpe said yesterday. "He saw me and I saw him, and he reared up about two foot (60cm) into the air and struck at me three times. I just screamed and ran."
The snake chased after Palethorpe, before her three kelpies, including Tess, jumped to her defence.
"All the dogs heard me, it was coming after me, chasing me. I called them off it, going 'leave, leave', but she [Tess] wouldn't leave, and she got it and she was throwing it in the air."
Tess was bitten on the inside of an ear and received an urgent dose of anti-venom.
"My vet said if it [the snake] had got me ... I wouldn't have reached my back stairs, he said it was so deadly."
Tess has been in a coma since Sunday, and the vet rates her a 50-50 chance of recovery. But he delivered promising news yesterday, with the kelpie moving and blinking her eyes. "Every hour is a little bit better," Palethorpe said.
It was the second such incident in the region this week. The Courier-Mail reported that a doberman saved a toddler from being bitten by a deadly king brown snake.
Seventeen-month-old Charlotte Svilicic was playing in the garden of the family's Atherton home on Monday when Khan grabbed her by the back of the nappy and threw her clear of the approaching snake, the newspaper said. The dog was bitten but is recovering after a dose of anti-venom.
- AAP
