Tasmanian farmer killed by giant tiger snake

An elderly Tasmanian farmer was killed by a giant tiger snake that wrapped itself around his body and bit him multiple times, a coroner ruled.

Winston William Fish, 78, died of multiple organ failure after being bitten by the 1.4m tiger snake at his sheep farm in Hobart, according to the coroner’s report completed last month.

He had been working on the property on January 28 of this year, riding a quad bike with his dog Mac, when he encountered the tiger snake. He bit into it and wrapped itself tightly around his arm and around his body. Mac ran back to the house without Fish, where he lived with his friend Judy Hall.

“Ms. Hall, who was present at the residence, thought that Mac’s return alone and his unusual behavior indicated that something had happened to Mr. Fish,” wrote coroner Olivia McTaggart.

Hall drove to look for the farmer and found him lying on the ground next to his quad, with the snake “held in his right hand, with Fish holding his head with both hands to squeeze it.”

“She saw that it had wrapped itself around Mr. Fish’s right arm up to his neck and his body was moving.” The old farmer was still conscious at the time.

Hall turned to his neighbor, Greg McDermott, who arrived with his son Adam McDermott and his friend Sam Lyall for help.

Adam said in an affidavit that the group observed the “great black snake” that he said was coiled around his arm.

The group was finally able to free him from Fish’s body, cutting off his head with a knife.

The group then called a local doctor and an ambulance, which arrived “fairly quickly.”

When the ambulance arrived, he was administered an antidote to the tiger snake and flown to Royal Hobart Hospital, where he was admitted to the intensive care unit.

Unfortunately, he did not recover and died on January 30.

Donald Ritchey, the state’s forensic pathologist, discovered that the farmer had died of multiple organ failure as a result of the snake bites.

Coroner Olivia McTaggart called Fish’s death a “tragic but rare event.”

“The risk of death to members of the public from snake bites is extremely low,” he continued.

“There have been three deaths from snakebites, including Mr. Fish, since 1948.”

The coroner conveyed his sincere condolences to the farmer’s family and loved ones.