Father, 76, who had no idea he had been bitten by a brown snake until he fainted at a birthday dinner dies in hospital one week later
- Man thought eastern brown snake bite was a scratch and drove to a birthday
- He collapsed and hit his head, had surgery to relieve pressure on the brain
- Roger Taylor, 76, died on Saturday morning without regaining conciousness
A father has lost his fight for life after being bitten by an eastern brown snake four times in his backyard in Queensland.
Roger Taylor, 76, tragically died on Saturday morning in a Brisbane hospital after he was bitten by the deadly snake on Friday January 10 while moving bird netting outside his property in Vale View, south-west of Toowoomba.
Mr Taylor initially didn’t realise he had been bitten, with his wife Carol, the Toowoomba Regional Council’s Deputy Mayor, telling the ABC he thought he had scratched himself on a tree branch.
Roger Taylor was bitten four times by an eastern brown snake in Vale View, Queensland
According to the University of Melbourne, the eastern brown snake is responsible for more than half of all serious snake bites in Australia
Mr Taylor’s wife, Toowoomba Regional Council’s Deputy Mayor Carol Taylor (pictured in a file photo), said her husband had died peacefully on Saturday without regaining consciousness
‘He’s gotten cranky with it [the netting] and picked it up to throw it out of the way, not realising that there was a snake entwined in it and it’s bitten him I think four times,’ Ms Taylor said.
Ms Taylor told the ABC on Saturday that her husband had died peacefully surrounded by his family at the Princess Alexandra Hospital in Brisbane.
‘He never regained consciousness following his operation last Saturday after the snake bites,’ she said.
Mr Taylor had surgery to relieve pressure on his brain but tragically died on Saturday morning without regaining consciousness
Incredibly, Mr Taylor got behind the wheel after being bitten and drove half an hour to Toowoomba to a friend’s birthday dinner before feeling the effects of the bites.
He collapsed and hit his head at the party and was taken to Toowoomba Base Hospital, before being airlifted to the Princess Alexandra Hospital in Brisbane as his condition worsened.
Mr Taylor had an operation to relieve pressure on his brain and the venom had left his body, but sadly he did not recover.
The Taylors’ son travelled home from Italy to join his family and to be by his father’s side.
Councillor Bill Cahill from Toowoomba Region Council thanked locals for their well wishers on Ms Taylor’s behalf last Monday.
Ms Taylor warned locals to keep their eyes out for eastern brown snakes moving out of their traditional habitat to search for food and water in extreme drought conditions.
According to the University of Melbourne, the eastern brown is responsible for more than half of all serious snake bites in Australia and over 60 per cent of the country’s snakebite-related deaths.