READER’S DIGEST
July• 2019 | 93But the drama was far from over.
Still not certain whether Khan’s
bizarre behaviour was some sort
of attack on her child, Catherine
raced to pick up Charlotte, who was
completely unharmed, and take her
inside to safety.
“As I turned to flee into the house,
this big brown snake came out from
between the palings and got Khan
right in the chest,” she says. “He
screamed like he’d been stabbed.”
IN AN INSTANT, IT ALL MADE SENSE.
Whether he had seen it or smelled
it, Khan had somehow sensed the
deadly Eastern brown snake lurking
under the house, right behind the
palings where his human best friend
was playing. His menacing growl had
been an attempt to scare away the
reptile. When that didn’t work, and
he saw Catherine approaching, Khan
knew he had to act. That primal do-
bermann drive to protect had kicked
in at the absolute right moment. The
devoted dog hadn’t been trying to
hurt Charlotte at all – Catherine felt
ashamed that she had ever enter-
tained the thought. Just four days af-
ter meeting the little girl, he had been
trying to save her.
And he had succeeded – but not
before the snake had struck a poten-
tially lethal blow.
Considered to be the second-most
venomous terrestrial snake in the
world, in Australia, the Eastern brown
snake is responsible for about 60 per
cent of all snake-related fatalities – an
envenomed bite can be fatal within
minutes. Khan needed urgent vet-
erinary help, so Catherine called a
vet, who was fortunately only a short
distance away. The vet examined
Khan and informed Catherine his
only chance at survival was a shot of
antivenom. She asked the vet to do
whatever it took to save Khan’s life.
“By the time the vet arrived and I
told her what had happened, it was
starting to sink in that Khan had saved
Charlotte.” The vet just looked at me,
gobsmacked, and I went, “OK, this sit-
uation is bigger than I thought it was.”
With Catherine’s help, the vet
was able to get Khan into the car.
She raced him back to her clinic
and administered the life-saving
medication. It was touch and go for
a day or two, but Khan soon made
a full recovery. “He was absolutely
fine and came home after a couple
of days,” Catherine says. “It was just
astounding.”
Khan knew that he had to make it
home – he had a little girl waiting
for him, after all.This is an edited
extract from
The Rescuers
by Laura
Greaves,
published by
Penguin Random
House. Out now.
RRP $32.99.
http://www.penguin.
com.au