A hero grandfather who died after grabbing a snake wrapped around his mate’s ankle and tossing it away did not have venom in his system.
Donny Morrison was killed when the snake, believed to be a highly poisonous eastern brown, bit him multiple times on the chest and arms.
The 68-year-old took the reptile away from the 100th anniversary celebrations he was attending at Koumala State School in Queensland on Saturday.
He is then believed to have had a heart attack and died. Paramedics performed CPR on Mr Morrison for 30 minutes but he could not be saved.
Toxicology reports released on Thursday have revealed that despite the bites, Mr Morrison actually had no venom in his system when he died.
“We have received preliminary findings from the coroner’s office which confirm that there was no snake venom in Donny’s system,” his devastated family said in a statement.
“This therefore rules out snakebite as a contributing factor or cause of death.
“It is believed that Donny may have had an underlying medical condition that he was unaware of.”
The exact cause of Mr Morrison’s death is still under investigation.
Mr Morrison’s friend Lloyd Younger, 65, suffered a dry bite and was taken to Mackay Base Hospital in a stable condition. He was released on Sunday.
Mr Morrison’s family said he was a popular member of the Koumala community and ”would be missed by many”.
“We would like to thank everyone involved with the incident involving Donny,” the family said.
“People pulled together in an attempt to resuscitate Don but unfortunately were not successful.”