Snake collar for cat
December 12th, 2007
Cat recovering from snake collar
Updated
A Tasmanian cat has used up at least one life learning that it's not all right to attack native wildlife.
Usually,
Jelly the cat kills birds. But when Jelly bit a snake, the snake bit
back, twisting itself around the cat's neck like a necklace.The cat's owner, Wendy Wallis, was playing with her children in the backyard when she noticed the cat was walking towards her with something around its neck.
At first Ms Wallis thought the cat was carrying a bird.
"Jelly was about half way up the backyard when I realised it was a snake, and then it was panic stations, because all the children were outside,' she said.
"I knew Jelly would follow us inside, so I picked the children up and went inside before she followed me."
With the family safely inside, Ms Wallis took a picture of the cat and its snake collar through a glass door. Jelly's eyes look droopy because she's been bitten by the snake.
The venom from a copperhead snake can kill a human, but when snake wrangler, Matthew Stafford, arrived he was more worried about being bitten by the cat.
"No, the cat was good, it was really good, it was surprisingly pleasant," he said.
"I was expecting it to be quite agitated - it was afraid to see me as with any stranger I suppose, but once the owner came outside and he was able to hold the cat for me, it calmed down quite a bit.
"It was all over and done with in about 10, 15 seconds."
Jelly's owners took the cat straight to the vet. A day and $1,000 later, Jelly's on the mend. She's still on a drip but is strong enough to stand up and eat.
Her owners have just called the vet, Andrew Nicholson, to ask how she's going.
"She's mobile, she's walking really well, her pupils have come down," he said.
"We've still got her on fluids but we'll have her off the fluids this afternoon."
Mr Nicholson says he doesn't know how many times the cat was bitten by the snake but he's sure it was the cat that struck first.
"It's more than likely that the cat was wondering through the backyard at the same time as the snake and attacked the snake, picked it up," he said.
"I think Mr Wallis said it had a bite wound in the middle of its back so I suspect the cat's just picked it up and the snake's just wrapped itself fair around the neck a couple of times to try and protect itself. That's the most likely scenario anyway."
The idea that it was the cat that bit the snake first, not the other way around, is shared by Mr Stafford.
"Snakes won't usually attack unless they're aggravated and cats are known for biting snakes; dogs are known for it too, cats are just a lot more inquisitive than dogs, that's all," he said.
"It's hard to say, but with the snake being bit where it was, it would have been hard for the cat to bite it with it being around its neck, so I'd probably say that the cat got itself into a bit of mischief this time. Lucky to get out the other side of it."
Jelly is being told to stay inside and stop using up her lives on curiosity.
And the copperhead snake?
It's being cared for by a wildlife volunteer and treated for the cat bite on its back.
Once the snake has recovered from becoming a collar it'll be released back into the wild in a spot that's far away from Jelly the cat.
Sometimes, it's true, fact is stranger than fiction. The photos are a classic, and the beast definitely has the luck of the Irish. Not only did someone stop, get out of the car and check, but then took remedial action. As a woman, it's pretty dark out there in the country, and as a woman, Ivan Milat comes to mind as well. So in my book she's pretty brave and pretty fabulous. As is the koala.
Fastest koala in the west: Lucky marsupial gets stuck in car grill after being hit at 50mph... and survives
Koalas are famously chilled, laid-back creatures who don't like a lot of excitement.
So imagine the shock this little critter suffered after it was hit by a car in Australia and got stuck in the front grille.
The vehicle struck the fully grown male koala near Narrawong in Victoria's south west after leaving the town of Portland, west of Melbourne.
The driver, who was travelling at about 50mph, hit the brakes after striking the animal with his Ford Falcon on the Princes Highway.
Assuming the animal was dead, he was stunned to find the koala very much alive and wedged in the car's front grille.
The shocked marsupial was trapped just under the licence plate with its front paws and head hanging out the front of the vehicle...
The driver phoned Portland's after-hours veterinary service before driving nine cautious miles at low speed back into town.
Local veterinarian Lisia Sturm was astounded to find the animal had survived without a scratch.
'It looked quite surprised - if koalas can look surprised,' Dr Sturm told ninemsn.
'It had its bum wedged right in there meaning it couldn't get out.
'But he was a big boy and looked really healthy. He didn't have any injuries at all not even a graze.'
The koala was cut from the grille with bolt cutters.
It was kept under observation for the rest of the day before being released back into its prior habitat later that afternoon.
Dr Sturm said the koala's amazing escape showed it was important for drivers to stop and examine an animal following an accident before seeking veterinarian treatment.
Source: Mail Online
The world is full of many weird and wonderful things. And I'm not talking about Ivan Milat.
In defence of the crocodile, let me mention that crocodile porosis, native to Australia, is the only reptile to take care of its' young.
The world is full of many weird and wonderful things. And I'm not talking about Ivan Milat.
In defence of the crocodile, let me mention that crocodile porosis, native to Australia, is the only reptile to take care of its' young.
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