Dogs and cattle bitten as floodwaters force poisonous snakes to pack onto high ground

Gardens and homes across NSW have been inundated with a booming population of black and brown snakes - and it could prove fatal for family pets.

Forget the mouse plague – gardens and homes across NSW have been inundated with a deadly swarm of black and brown snakes.

“Many farmers are reporting an increased number of snake sightings as a result of the flooding, which has also reduced access to veterinary treatment,” NSW Farmers Policy Director Kathy Rankin said.

Snake populations have boomed because of the mouse plague and now floodwaters have forced them to pack into small areas of high ground.

“Recently one of our members said she saw three black snakes near her place in a really short space of time, and it’s been like this for a while, they’re just trying to escape the water like we all are,” Ms Rankin said.

“This is happening everywhere, we’ve heard several reports of livestock being lost to snakes because some farms are more like islands than paddocks, and they can’t get to a vet.

Jo McKinnon's dog Pippi was bitten by a brown snake in Quirindi, and luckily survived.

“It’s a worry because people with dogs or who are going out to move stranded livestock are at a higher risk of being bitten,” she said.

Liverpool Council officer Jo McKinnon returned home from work to find her two-year-old sausage dog Pippi laying on the front lawn next to a long brown snake.

“The dog was still panting. I called the vet and they asked me to take a picture so they could identify the snake and see the size of it,” she said.

“It had puncture marks down its side and I thought it was dead. But when I asked someone to get rid of it later it turned and tried to bite him.”

Jo McKinnon's dog Pippi receiving treatment after being bitten.

Ms McKinnon rushed the dog to the vets at Quirindi between Scone and Tamworth on the Liverpool Plains where she was immediately injected with antivenene.

“Pippi made a full recovery but it was only a matter of time really because there are snakes everywhere. It is a full blown plague,” she said.

Jake Meney, head reptile keeper at the Australian Reptile Park, said: “When you get these years of really good food availability with all the mice, snakes really take advantage of it.

“Right now snakes are breeding, growing and booming.”

The brown snake that bit Pippi.

Dr Darren Roberts, Medical Director of the NSW Poisons Information Centre, said the increased snake numbers had not resulted in more humans being bitten.

“While we haven’t seen an increase in the number of snake bites this year compared to previous years, there are many venomous snakes in Australia, and many living very close to urban dwellings so it is important to know what to do in the event someone is bitten,” he said.

“All snakes bites are treated as potentially life-threatening until confirmed otherwise and need assessment in hospital.

“If you are bitten, you need to make sure you immobilise the area, apply a pressure bandage and call triple-0 (000),” he said.