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Little Zeus, the eight-month-old pit bull, was devoted to his owners.

And he paid for that devotion with his life when he fought a deadly coral snake that was lurking near two of the family’s young sons in their garden.

Brothers Oriley and Orion Richardson were washing out Zeus’s water bowl outside the family home in Sumter County, Florida when they spotted the puppy apparently playing with a piece of rope. Their mum Georgina takes up the story: “Orion goes outside and begins cleaning the bucket and Zeus is now laying next to the water bucket he is cleaning.

“Orion noticed Zeus’ eyes looked ‘bugged out’. He ran indoors to my husband to let him know Zeus was acting weird. My husband Gary, tells Orion to call Zeus inside"

(Image: Facebook)

Guessing that maybe Zeus had been stung by a bee or a wasp, Georgina asked husband Gary to bring some Benadryl to take the swelling down. But then she made a shocking discovery: “When I came back my husband lifts his head to assist me with giving him the Benadryl as he does Zeus’ body slightly comes up high enough for me to see a red, yellow and black snake under him.”

Georgina made some calls, and found a vet that had some anti-venom on hand. She loaded the by now very poorly Zeus into the back of he car and set off.

“All I could do was tell him what a great boy he was and that I owe my sons life to him,” she said.

For a brief moment at the vets, despite having been bitten 4 times it looked as if Zeus might be OK: “After the first vial of anti-venom was administered they allowed me to go back to see him,” said Georgina.

“He looked up at me and wagged his tail as he lay there. I instantly got on my phone on FaceTime with my husband and the kids so they could say their ‘hellos’ and make Zeus feel happy. "

(Image: Facebook)

“At that moment I just knew he was going to be OK." she said. "After a few minutes the nurses explained that I had to go back to the waiting room because they had to administer more anti-venom.”

After some more treatment, Georgina felt as if the pup might be out of danger and drove home.

The next morning, she decided to check in with the vet: "I woke up sometime between six and 6:20 in the morning and as I’m laying there I told my husband I’m just gonna go ahead and call and see how he’s doing, even though they told me they were going to call me at eight in the morning.

(Image: Facebook)

“My heart was hurting and I just needed to hear a good update.

“The nurse that gets on the line puts me on hold for what seemed like forever. She comes back on the line with sorrow in her voice she informs me that as I had called he was passing on.”

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Heartbroken, the family set off to say their final goodbyes, with Zeus’s mother Sega in the back of the car.



"We got to the animal hospital at about 7:40” said Georgina, “and they take us to the back where they had his body draped with a soft beautiful dog blanket.

“We were all an emotional wreck.

“Sega goes over to Zeus’ head and puts her paws up on the table and takes a sniff. Her ears came back [and] she got down.

"She instantly jumped on the sofa next to me and put her head on my thigh in sorrow."

(Image: Georgina Richardson / GoFundMe)

As the devastated family left, the staff of the veterinary hospital gave them a cast of Zeus’s paw-print to remember him by.

Georgina says that Zeus’s sisters also seem to realise that he is gone:“After we got home, it almost seems that Sega told [them] his story.

“What made this whole situation even worse for me is the child of mine that he saved, Oriley, turned 10 years old on the day Zeus died.”

(Image: Getty)

Georgina told the tragic tale on a GoFundme page , because the family are seeking donations to help with Zeus’s $1,000 care bill.

She concludes: “I can only hope that Zeus lives on as an ambassador for the pit bull breed and the wonderful family members that they are. “They do not deserve the bad publicity they get because they would give their lives to save others.”