Gold Coast family's pet chihuahua Cooper dies after heroically saving his owner from a deadly brown snake

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A Gold Coast woman is mourning the loss of her beloved Chihuahua after it died in a David and Goliath battle with a brown snake.

Evangeline Lim, 54, believes 10-year-old Cooper was trying to save her when he took on the highly venomous snake just as she was about to step outside to hang out her washing last week.

'The snake was upside down and Cooper was on top of it and wrestling,' the Hope Island woman told the Gold Coast Bulletin.

Cooper died saving his owner from a deadly brown snake 

Evangeline Lim, 54, (pictured) believes 10-year-old Cooper was trying to save her when he took on the highly venomous snake

'He was obviously saving me from the snake.'

Ms Lim and her partner managed to rescue Cooper, by putting a pot plant on top of the snake.

But the tiny pooch had been bitten, and died within about 10 minutes.

'We rushed to get to the car to take him to the vet and my daughter was backing the car out... but by this point he was already going into cardiac arrest,' she said.

Ms Lim says locals need to be aware that deadly snakes may be lurking in their backyards.

Security officers at their Riverleigh Drive gated estate have reported spotting snakes every day.

Cooper (pictured) died within ten minutes of being bitten by the snake