An Australian field hockey player died from a snake bite on Tuesday night after going for a run.
Karl Berry, 26, was cleaning up at the Marrara Hockey complex in Darwin, Australia when he happened upon a snake. He believed the snake to be a nonpoisonous baby python, and he picked it up and tossed it into the bushes, Yahoo! Sports reports.
He didn't realize the snake bit him.
Berry then began a 1.2 mile training run. Midway through the run, he collapsed. He managed to stay conscious long enough to detail the events leading up to the run to paramedics.
"After some discussion and investigation, we became aware he had picked up a snake," St. John's Ambulance spokesman Craig Garraway said. "Further investigation [showed] it had actually bitten him on the finger.
"He had the signs and symptoms of a snake bite. He was becoming quite ill," Garraway said. "He'd been on a two-kilometer run, so obviously circulation had increased during that run."
Berry died later that night at the hospital.
Tests later revealed the snake that bit him was actually a Western Brown snake. Western Brown snakes are one of the most poisonous snakes in Australia, and their venom is 1.5-times more deadly than a cobra's.
"Western Brown snakes are responsible for a large number of snake bite deaths in Australia each year," Darwin snake catcher Chris Peberdy said. "You die if you don't get treatment."
Peberdy added that a Western Brown snake's bite often goes unnoticed because it doesn't hurt.
Karl's father, Ian, said he was surprised to hear Karl had picked the poisonous snake.
"He's actually quite knowledgeable [about snakes]," Ian said. "I've had it relayed to me ... one of the kids had, in fact, picked it up and he took it off him."
Authorities are still piecing together what exactly happened.
Berry was known as "Mr. Hockey" around Darwin. He had played for the Commerce-Pints since 1997 and was the captain of the A-grade side of the club.
