Revolting moment three poisoned rats are removed from a deadly eastern brown snake to save the reptile’s life
-- GRAPHIC CONTENT WARNING
-- A brown snake which ate three poisoned rats was brought into a veterinary clinic
-- Veterinarian Dr Jonathon Howard slowly pulled all three rats out of the snake
-- A resident in the Hunter Valley, north of Sydney, brought the snake into the vet
-- He had started putting out poison for the rats and feared the snake could die
A veterinarian has saved the life of a eastern brown snake after he pulled three poisoned rats out of its stomach
The horrifying video shows Dr Jonathon Howard pushing three dead rats through the body of the snake and pulling them out of its mouth one-by-one.
The snake was brought into the clinic in the Hunter Valley, north of Sydney, by a resident who was concerned for the snake's well-being after he started poisoning rats near his home.
The video begins with Dr Howard holding the anaesthetised snake and slowly pushing the first rat up the snake's body and towards its mouth.
As the rat moves into the mouth of the snake, its curled-up tail flops out and its hind legs emerge.
Dr Howard picks up a pair of tweezers and grabs the rat's legs and slowly pulls it out of the snake.
'That's the first one,' Dr Howard says.
'We've got two more to go.'
Dr Howard begins pushing the second rat out of the snake and as he pulls it out of its mouth, he notices that it's a baby.
'It must have raided a mum and some babies,' Dr Howard said.
As the third and final rat is carefully taken out of the snake, Dr Howard explains that it was brought in by a resident who started poisoning rats outside his home.
The resident became concerned that the snake may have eaten a poisoned rat.
'To reduce any risk of the poison passing on to the snake, we have anaesthetised this brown snake and helped him out.'
Dr Howard posted on his Facebook page and provided an update about the snake after the procedure.
He said that the snake has recovered well and that the procedure did not fracture any of its bones.
The snake was given some pain relief to help with some bruising and released the following day.