PAPUA NEW GUINEA SNAKEBITE PROJECT
NOT QUITE AN UNEVENTFUL DAY

I took a run up to the Snek Haus to check the two Papuan taipan (Oxyuranus scutellatus canni), the one captured by Owen on the road to Edevu and the one captured by Jasper from the hill we call Phone Booth Hill. They were in quarantine and in their disposable hide-boxes so I only planned to take quick photos and not disturb them unduly.

* Phone Booth Hill is the lower flank of a mountain and one of the few places where we can get a signal for our mobile (cell) phones.

The problem was that Jasper's taipan has somehow managed to get a piece of hide-box tape around its head and that had to be carefully removed by Owen and myself, a difficult business at the best of times, but especially so when it involves getting one's fingers very close to the fangs of an ungrateful and highly venomous serpent. We were successul but in so doing the taipan lost the glossy surface layer of its scales, but they should recover after a few sloughs.

Above: Owen's Papuan taipan Below: Jasper's Papuan taipan Oxyuranus scutellatus canni in quarantine in the Snek Haus

By late morning I was about ready to go back into the bush. I would take the Patrol and Dave and Owen, neither of whom would be staying, would accompany me in the Troopie with extra fuel and supplies. Dave is due to fly to Australia tomorrow and Owen has lectures to present in the medical faculty. Still it looked like an uneventual afternoon comprising merely a leisurely drive back out to Edevu.

All that was about to change. I was just finishing my packing when Dave got the call. David Matthews, out at Exxon, was digging out a large Papuan blacksnake (Pseudechis papuanus) which had been exposed in a burrow by a bulldozer scouring the ground along the perimeter fence. He had the posterior third secured and said the snake had a superficial cut from the bulldozer, and he reckoned to have the entire snake out by the time we arrived. Dave, Owen and I set out for the half-hour drive to the location, aiming to meet David Matthews at the Frog Pond outside the instalation.

While we waiting I noticed I had a headache starting. From where its came I had no idea but it was becoming increasinglypresent and oppressive.

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