Snake kills brave pet

By Sarah Schwager
A BLIND Bight boy will forever remember his brave dog after it was killed protecting him from a tiger snake.
Jackie Leggs, a three-year-old Jack Russell terrier, died protecting its owner, six-year-old Jeremy Finch, right up until the end.
Jeremy’s grandmother Jennie Finch said Jeremy was at home from school on a curriculum day last Wednesday when he was asked to go outside to clean up his toys. Like most kids, he got distracted and sat down on a plastic chair when Jackie started barking and jumping back and forth.
Jeremy thought he wanted to play so picked up the dog but it frantically leapt out of his arms. Jeremy’s dad Brendan Free heard the noise and asked if he had finished picking up his toys.
As he got up, Jeremy saw the snake curled around the leg of the chair he had just been sitting on.
“He remembered what I had told him if he ever saw a snake,” Mrs Finch said.
“So he stood really still, kept his eye on the snake and walked slowly backwards.
“At this stage the snake was striking, so Jackie put himself in between Jeremy and the snake.”
Mrs Finch said by that time Jeremy had reached the door and ran inside to tell his dad that Jackie was fighting with a snake.
Mr Free came outside and saw Jackie jumping back and forward at the snake and the snake continuing to strike. He grabbed a shovel and, while panicking because he knew snakes were protected species, felt he had no other choice and killed the snake. He looked over Jackie but couldn’t find any bite marks. Then, five minutes later, Jackie began to stagger.
They rushed the dog to the vet where it was given three vials of antivenene then taken by ambulance to the animal hospital in Hallam.
Mrs Finch said while the help they had received had been exceptional, the family had to make the tough decision to put Jackie down as it was not breathing on its own and the vet could not guarantee it would survive because of severe muscle and organ damage.
“We are so sad for Jeremy that he lost his little dog but so grateful that it wasn’t Jeremy that was bitten. This awful situation could have been just so much worse. I am positive that Jackie died saving and protecting Jeremy.”
Mrs Finch warned people to be wary of snakes in their backyards and to educate their children about what to do in such a situation.
“The snake was only a foot long. It was only a baby snake and look what it managed to do.”
She said for certain reasons, such as the drought, snakes were much worse this time of year than normal.
At the animal hospital, Mrs Finch was told that normally at this time of year the snakes’ venom was not as powerful because they were hibernating but for some reason this year they had been unusually aggressive.
She said the snake had been very close to the dog’s water bowl and suggested that was why it was there.
“I have lived in Blind Bight for 22 years and had never seen a snake. Yet there have been six instances in the last month of Eastern Brown Snakes seen in yards.”
Jeremy buried his beloved dog in his grandmother’s backyard beside her other dogs Sapphire and Possum.