At first she didn’t mind … but the visitor wasn’t moving.
When a woman in Australia entered a shed on her property last month, she immediately noticed something unusual blocking the door of her toaster oven. What looked like a thick cord stretched across it was brown, scaly — and moving.
It quickly became clear that a snake had wrapped itself tightly around the appliance.
Accustomed to the wildlife that lives on her land, the woman recognised the intruder as an eastern brown snake, one of Australia’s most common — and most dangerous — snakes. According to the Australian Museum, eastern brown snakes are the second most venomous snake species in the world and are known for striking quickly when they feel threatened.
At first, the woman kept her distance, assuming the snake was simply passing through the shed. But when it failed to move on, she began to worry something was wrong. A closer look revealed the problem: the snake’s tail was trapped in the shed’s rusty metal frame.
Concerned for the animal’s welfare, the woman contacted Manfred Zabinskas, owner and operator of Five Freedoms Animal Rescue.
“She was calm and clearly cared about the snake,” Zabinskas told The Dodo. “She felt the snake was in trouble.”
After reviewing photos sent by the woman, Zabinskas feared the snake might have suffered a serious injury. He immediately drove an hour to the property, where he found the snake visibly distressed, using nearby objects to support itself as it struggled to free its trapped tail.
“Being a large snake, it had wrapped completely around the oven and hidden its head behind it,” Zabinskas said. “Eastern brown snakes are usually very reactive, but this one was so frightened and vulnerable that it focused entirely on escaping rather than attacking. That’s unusual behaviour for this species.”
Carefully monitoring the snake’s movements, Zabinskas lifted part of its body to reduce the tension created by the tight coils around the oven.
“Because of its size, I could work on its tail while keeping a safe distance from its head,” he explained.
To his surprise, the snake’s tail came free easily. Even more remarkably, the injury turned out to be minor.
“The skin wasn’t broken, there was no blood, and its spine appeared intact,” Zabinskas said.
Once the snake was freed, the woman made an unexpected request — she wanted it released back onto her property.
“She wanted her resident snake to remain where it belonged,” Zabinskas said. “They’d been living in harmony with the land and her dog up until now.”
Together, they watched as the snake slowly slithered away and disappeared beneath a pile of rocks, likely returning to the home it had been separated from for several hours.
Five Freedoms Animal Rescue later praised the woman’s actions, describing her as “a truly compassionate animal lover, in tune with nature and her environment.”
Hopefully, the eastern brown snake will remember his close call — and keep future adventures outdoors.