A well-known “snake hunter” is showing “signs of recovery” after a freak accident involving a highly venomous tiger snake.
Melbourne snake catcher Mark Pelley was left fighting for life last week after a routine job went horribly wrong.
Mr Pelley’s equipment broke during the capture, allowing the snake to turn its head and latch on to his hand.
The incident was the first “proper bite” Mr Pelley had received in his 14 years as a snake catcher.
He was rushed to the ICU after the incident, however, has now been moved out of the ward.
His daughter Aishah provided an update on her father’s condition on Saturday, saying he has now stood up for the first time since the bite.
“Thank you so much for your generosity and kind words. Dad is showing signs of recovery and officially out of the ICU. He has been moved to another ward, and fingers crossed will continue to get better,” she wrote in an update to her father’s GoFundMe campaign.
“There is still a long road ahead but I know dad is determined. Any help still really counts as dad will be unable to look after us or work for some time.”
In an update to his followers on Instagram, Ms Pelley also thanked the nurses and doctors looking after her father.
“He’s smiling again and waddling painfully all over the hospital,” she wrote.
“Nurses and patients apparently keep asking to take selfies with him.”
Ms Pelley, who followed her father’s footsteps into the snake catching trade, is caring for her three sisters and grandmother while Mr Pelley is treated in hospital.
Last week, she posted to social media after the scary incident and how the venom went straight into her father’s circulation system and immediately begun having neurological effects.
“I watched him lose consciousness very fast in front of my eyes,” she said.
She said her father stopped breathing several times and she believed he had died while emergency services rushed to the property at Diamond Creek.
The 41-year-old single dad of four daughters has received two antivenom doses but remains weak and suffered from muscle and nerve damage and heart irregularities.
An unwell Mr Pelley shared a post on Instagram from his hospital bed on Thursday night showing the effects of the bite.
“I can’t open my eyes and I feel so sick,” he said.
“This is what it looks like when you catch a tiger snake and it bites you.
“Even someone as experienced as me can get bitten.”
The GoFundMe campaign has reached over $35,000 in donations.