Survivors of Taipan Bite

The late Charles Tanner, Herpetologist, Cooktown

The late Charles Tanner made his living milking highly venomous snakes, so their venoms could be used in the production of antivenom and in research into their potential medical uses. He survived many life-threatening bites, to die in his 80s, simply of old age.

About his bites, he rarely spoke. Invariably, he acknowledged the risk of accidental bites, but he regarded herpetologists who sustained bites as silly, not brave.

In 1979, following massive, accidental envenomation by a Coastal Taipan, he was treated 'by the book', receiving the best first aid, premedication and antivenom treatment devised by the Commonwealth Serum Laboratories, Melbourne. His recovery was uneventful. He described the disappearance of his severe headache and the return of strength in his legs following the infusion of antivenom as miraculous. He said his therapy was like mother's milk!