A woman in her 60s was bitten by a two-metre eastern brown snake while riding her bike on the Northern Rivers Rail Trail near Burringbar, in northern New South Wales, on Wednesday afternoon. The snake got tangled in the bike's chain before biting her on the thigh. Ambulance workers arrived around 1pm, and police came to keep the area safe. The woman was taken to Tweed Valley Hospital in stable condition and went home on Thursday morning, according to the Northern NSW Local Health District The Guardian.

Snake catcher Sarah Mailey, who was called to help, said the bite was a 'dry bite.' That means the snake's teeth broke the skin, but no venom (snake poison) entered the woman's body. Mailey said the snake's head was not stuck in the chain, so it was still free to bite. She held the snake's head down while bystanders helped untangle the chain from its lower body. The snake was put down afterwards because of the injuries it suffered during the ordeal The Guardian.

Mailey pointed to two reasons the encounter likely happened. First, the snake was blind in its left eye, which probably made it harder for the snake to sense the cyclist coming. Second, cooler weather had slowed the snake down. Eastern brown snakes are among the most dangerous snakes in Australia. But dry bites — where a snake bites without injecting venom — do happen. Snakes sometimes choose not to release venom, or they release it outside the body instead of into the person they bite.

While the way this happened was unusual, it has happened before. Mailey said a fellow snake catcher with 31 years of experience had seen snakes caught in bike chains 'a couple of times.' The Guardian's report includes a photo from Mailey showing the snake's lower body tangled in the bike chain. ABC News, 7News, and Yahoo News Australia all reported on the incident on July 16, 2026.

The broader context here is about people sharing space with wildlife. The Northern Rivers Rail Trail, like many walking and cycling paths built along old train tracks, runs through areas where native animals live, including snakes. Cyclists moving fast along these paths have little time to spot a snake and avoid it. And the chain and gears of a bike can trap or hurt a snake if the animal tries to cross the path or shelter near a bike that has stopped or slowed down. In this case, the snake's lower body was caught in the chain, the animal couldn't see well, and the cold had made it sluggish. A defensive bite was the snake's way of responding to what it saw as a threat.

Putting the snake down was standard practice when an animal's injuries are too severe for it to survive. The response was quick and well-organised: ambulance workers helped the patient, police kept the scene safe, and a trained snake catcher handled the animal. The woman was able to leave the hospital the next morning, which fits with the dry bite finding — no venom, no poisoning symptoms. But staying overnight for observation would have been normal, since eastern brown snake venom is highly toxic and symptoms can sometimes take time to appear. This case is a useful example of how a bike's moving parts can trap a snake and trigger a bite, even when the snake's head is free the whole time.