Attack of the trouser snake: Man gets painful bite while answering the call of Nature in the Outback

Mr Daryl Zutt, 38, had gone into the bushes to relieve himself when the eastern brown snake, one of the most dangerous on the planet, managed to sink its fangs into a very delicate part of his anatomy.

'I thought I was gone,' said Mr Zutt, whose identity was finally revealed yesterday after the story had done the rounds of north Queensland.

Painful call of nature: Daryl Zutt feared he would die after being bitten by a snake

Mr Zutt had been hunting for wild pigs 200 miles north west of Cairns when he set off into the bush to answer a call of nature.

And nature called all right, but not in the way he expected.

'I squatted down and I reckon I must've nearly sat on his head,' Mr Zutt recalled. 'He sank his teeth into my penis and as soon as I felt it I yelled. It really hurt.

'I saw the snake slither out from between my legs and I thought "This is it. I'm gonna snuff  it."'

Mr Zutt said he tried to remain calm as he inspected the damage. How on earth, he wondered, was he going to tie a tourniquet to stop the poison spreading?

'He got me about half way along,' he said as he tried to describe in the most delicate
way his embarrassing encounter.

'I saw fang marks and a bit of blood come out.'

As the snake slithered away, Mr Zutt hurried back to his van and his friend advised him to use a cold rum can from their portable fridge and place it against the delicate area to deaden the pain.

Then Mr Zutt managed to get a call through to his mother to bid her a final goodbye.

He told the Cairns Post newspaper that by the time he arrived at the small town of Lakeland medical services were waiting for him.

'I was nauseous and had pains in the stomach. I couldn't talk properly - I was tongue-tied.'

After a series of blood tests, a relieved Mr Zutt was told that although the snake had bitten him, no poison had sunk in. He was free to go home and to stand by for the jokes that were certain to follow.

And sure enough, along they came.

'My mates have been saying things like "it was a trouser snake fight" and "when the snake saw the competition he got scared off."'

Mr Zutt said the incident had not put him off going out pig hunting.

But no matter when he gets the call of nature again, he won't be venturing into any bushes.