Pet Dog Fights Deadly Snake To Save Another Canine, Hospitalized

A dog is in critical condition after being bitten multiple times by a snake while trying to protect another canine.

The dogs, five-year-old Milly and five-month-old Tonka, had an encounter with the reptile in the backyard of a home in Queensland on Monday.

Their owner, Madeline, told 9News that she rushed to the backyard after hearing some commotion and noticed that Milly, a Staffordshire Bull Terrier, had been bitten multiple times on the neck and legs by a venomous eastern brown snake. The canine had already started showing signs of the venom by the time Madeline went to the yard.

"She seemed to have protected her little brother Tonka, who didn't get any venom," Madeline, who is a paramedic, told the outlet.

She rushed both the canines to the vet. While Tonka was allowed to go back home, his "big sister" Milly remained in the hospital. Milly has been administered with antivenom and put on an IV. She will remain hospitalized for a few days while vets monitored her for organ failure.

"As a paramedic, I've seen a fair share of brown snake bites. It's so frightening when it's in your own home and to hurt my fur babies is a different story. It just shows you don't need to live in the bush to encounter them," Madeline told the outlet.

Urging people to be vigilant and requesting them to keep their lawns short and neat, she said, "Like any other Australian, you just have to be careful. It's important to learn the basics of snakebite first aid, and to know the number of your local snake catcher."

Madeline also took to Facebook to warn the other pet owners.

"It’s spring and snakes are out and about. My two babies are in the vet hospital, one is in critical condition. Confirmed Brown snake by a snake catcher. We live next to a popular park as well. Suburb Deebing Heights," she wrote on Facebook.

The snake, which also suffered injuries in the encounter with the dogs, was removed from the backyard.