Jellyfish Have Dogs Licked

[mrmoshe]

Jellyfish have dogs licked

Box jellyfish make their presence felt.

A potentially lethal box jellyfish at Broome’s Town Beach stung a 12-year-old boy.

He was fishing with a throw-net in waist-deep water when he suddenly felt severe pain on the back of his knee.

The boy's grandfather was able to catch the venomous animal before heading to hospital allowing medical staff to identify exactly what they were dealing with.

Dr Conrad Macrokanis from Broome Hospital says you shouldn't take any risks catching venomous animals that have stung or bitten someone, but having the culprit does make their job easier.

The boy was treated for severe pain and vomiting and made a full recovery.

Although the thimble-sized irukanji jellyfish stings many more people each year in the Kimberley, the box jellyfish at the size of half a football is more dangerous.

To date, two deaths have been recorded following irukanji stings in Australia, compared to 71 deaths from box jellyfish stings.

And the box jelly is better known to science having been closely studied and even fitted with radio trackers.

They are known to live and breed in mangroves, grow quickly living for just one-and-a-half years, sleep at night, have four eyes, no brain, and were around before the dinosaurs.

Dr Macrokanis says it is possible to save the victim of a box jelly sting's life by providing good CPR for 15-30 minutes or until they can breath and have a pulse.

But there is some reassuring news for dogs. Dr Macrokanis says that work in north Queensland has shown man's best friend is only vulnerable to jellyfish stings if they lick the tentacles...which sadly has happened occasionally.

Typically however, there isn't a problem as the dogs fur and thick footpads are impervious to stings.

But for us humans, it's important to be clad in a stinger suit and armed with vinegar if you're going into the sea this wet season.