A Woman Thought a Leaf Had Wrapped Around Her Leg During Hike. It Turned Out to Be a Deadly Snake Latched onto Her Sneaker

A woman in Australia is being treated for suspected snake bites after a venomous reptile became stuck to her shoe during an outdoor game in south-west Sydney.

On Saturday, Dec. 20, the New South Wales resident — believed to be in her 40s — was geocaching when she felt something brush her leg, Australian Broadcasting Corporation and 9News.com reported. She jumped back from a garden bed and ran into the road, then shook her leg, assuming a leaf had caught on her sneaker.

Instead, she saw a snake latched onto her shoe, according to snake catcher Cory Kerewaro, who posts online as Reptile Relocation Sydney.

“The minute she realized it was a snake, she stayed still,” Kerewaro told 9News.com, adding that an ambulance was called and he was contacted for help around 3:30 p.m. local time.

In a Facebook post recounting the callout, Kerewaro wrote that paramedics advised the snake might still be present and needed to be removed before they could safely treat the woman. “Saturday afternoon’s job was without a doubt the most bizarre call I’ve ever attended,” he wrote, adding that an ambulance was already on the way.

Kerewaro said he identified the snake as an eastern brown snake after receiving a photo before arriving. The reptile had become “completely wedged” in the small loop at the back of the woman’s sneaker.

“The odds of that happening are almost nil. It was absolutely unreal,” he wrote. “At that point, everything changed.”

Kerewaro told ABC that an eastern brown snake can reportedly kill in less than 15 minutes.

“This lady was standing in the middle of the road on a 36–38°C day, with an Eastern Brown Snake stuck in her shoe,” he continued on Facebook.

“Brown snakes are highly reactive when stressed, and there was nowhere to take cover, nowhere to approach from safely, and no room for error,” Kerewaro said. “Any sudden movement could cause the snake to react.”

When he arrived, he said the snake showed signs of heat stress and was less reactive than usual. He then “carefully pinned the snake” and cut the small loop to free the woman’s shoe.

The woman was taken to hospital afterward and later told Kerewaro she believed she may have been bitten multiple times.

“There were some marks on her legs, which they weren’t sure whether they were bite marks or just scratches from the bushland,” New South Wales Ambulance acting duty operations manager Linda Evans told ABC. “As a precaution, we treated it as snake bite … we applied a bandage to the area, a box splint for limb immobilization.”

Evans added that specialist paramedics carry medications that may help slow the onset of symptoms and said crews work to stabilize patients and transport them quickly to hospitals that stock antivenom.