He rescued a dolphin held captive in an Indonesian resort. This was just before Christmas. Pete was deep in the rainforest with his team and they were looking for evidence of illegal logging and hunting. Picture it. Really steep. They were all over the place, and a lot of the trees have very spiky trunks on them, so you need to be really careful walking. Pete Bethune: I just felt this bang in the back of my leg, and my first thought was someone had hit me.
It felt like someone had a big stick or a piece of wood and then whacked the back of my calf, and then I looked down and in horror I see this snake recoiling away from me with its head and it was sticking about two feet off the ground. As soon as I saw it, I knew it was a fer-de-lance. Pete Bethune: They did make it clear — you need to get that guy to a hospital as quickly as possible or he is going to die. Wendy Zukerman: Pete had maybe six hours to get to a hospital, and to get there, he had to dodge all the spikes and spiders and other snakes in the rainforest.
Pete had two options. He could go up on the ridge of the mountain which would use up his six hours, or he could go down through muddy creeks. That would be harder but also faster, and he might get to the hospital in time. Pete Bethune: I remember looking at my map on my phone and thinking, the only option here is we need to go down one of these creek beds. Wendy Zukerman: After trudging his way through waterfalls and mud, Pete arrived at the edge of the rainforest and onto a beach where he saw the Coast Guard.
Pete Bethune: They lay me down on the ground and I remember just closing my eyes, and, you know… just hang on a little bit more, hang on a little bit more. Wendy Zukerman: Pete arrived at the hospital around three and a half hours after he was bitten. His heart was racing and he passed out.
When he came to, he started documenting everything that was going on. Wendy Zukerman: By the time he got to the hospital, the snake venom has begun to destroy his muscles and blood vessels. Pete Bethune: My bleep and bleep go all big and black. It is not an uncommon thing that happens with snakebite victims. Pete Bethune: I mean, look. Wendy Zukerman: To turn things around, the doctors had injected Pete with snake antivenom.
