Photo: Phil Rogers
Tate Burns of Marsfield, Australia, a suburb of Sydney, has her rescued cat to thank for alerting her to the presence of a venomous snake in the house.
Ms. Burns took Sam into her home when a friend found him in the gutter about 18 months ago, saving him from possibly being put down. Sam returned the favor by helping her discover a red-bellied black snake lurking in a unexpected spot one day earlier this month, and potentially saving her from being bitten by the creature.
Ms. Burns was getting ready to take Sam to the vet for a checkup when he got her attention by scratching at the front door.
“I went over to investigate and when I pulled the door back he lunged on to the door snake and I pulled him away, that’s when I saw the snake,” she said.
“I was quite surprised to see a real snake behind the door snake. It lunged out at me, I jumped back and swore loudly. I locked Sam upstairs because I didn’t want him to go near the snake.”
Ms Burns said her “attack cat” had saved her life. “If you believe in karma. I guess he was paying it forward,” she said.
“I would not have known it was there. There was no way I would have known.”
While a bite from the snake might not have been deadly, it would have required an antidote, at the least.
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GOOD KITTY!