"Tony Bailey" wrote in message
...
"Not the Karl Orff" wrote in message news:canwine-
I wager more Aussies die from spiders in..... 6 months than Canadians
from wolves in the past 20 years


For those interested in snake bite treatment -

http://www.rfds.org.au/monographs/snakebite.pdf

I liked the following section:

Snake bite sometimes follows alcohol consumption. This can make initial
management difficult. Stories of drunks and snakes abound, and a favourite
true one is of a drunken man who was bitten by a Brown Snake and so returned
the compliment. He arrived in casualty holding a well-chewed snake and
promptly collapsed, having succumbed to the combined effects of alcohol and
snake venom.

LOL!

Tom

P.S. On my last rtip to Australia, I saw 4 snakes, all of which I think were
Tiger Snakes. This was during a 10 day trip to the SW corner of WA. We came
across them hiking, and in all instances they slithered away very quickly -
they were not going to hang around. Of course, we took the precaution of
walking with very heavy footsteps when we were in or near long grass or
thick overgrowth.


This paper seems to suggest that snake bite treatment is so advanced in
Australia, that, if you must be bitten - Australia, in the vicinity of a
hospital, is probably the safest place to have it happen -

BTW 2.6 deaths per year - MVA about 3 000!

--
Tony Bailey
Mercury Travel Books