An Australian woman is lucky to be alive after an eastern brown snake - one of the most venomous snakes on the planet - became tangled in her shoe during a bushwalk near Sydney on the weekend.
Snake catcher Cory Kerewaro said in a post to Facebook that the woman had been geocaching, a treasure-hunt-style game using online GPS coordinates, in south-west Sydney on Saturday when she felt something slither around her leg.
"She's gone to jump out of the garden bed, gone to shake her leg off thinking a big leaf had wrapped around her leg and it was actually an eastern brown snake."
Eastern brown snakes were responsible for more deaths than any other Australian snake, with the venom potentially fatal in less than 15 minutes.
Kerewaro praised the woman's willpower to stay calm, as the agitated snake then became trapped in the heel loop of her shoe.
"When she noticed it was a snake, she stayed absolutely still, and that's when it went through the loop and got itself caught," he said.
"It's nearly unbelievable; something like this tops anything I've done."
Paramedics and Kerewaro were called to the scene at around 3.30pm (local time) on Saturday.
"We quickly pinned the snake, undid the lady's shoe and got her out of danger's way …The paramedics absolutely saved her life."
The woman had marks on her legs, so medics treated her for a possible bite, applying a pressure bandage and immobilising the limb before taking her to hospital for antivenom.
"She’s just going to take a couple of days’ rest and process it all, but she’ll be OK," Kerewaro said.
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