Woman Attacked by Snake and Hawk at the Same Time

August 12, 2023

A Texas woman has attracted a flurry of online attention after being attacked by a snake and a hawk while mowing her lawn. Peggy Jones, 64, was riding on a tractor when the reptile landed on her arm. It had been dropped by a bird flying overhead, which swooped down and vigorously tried to reclaim it, injuring Jones in the process and causing her to fear for her life.

1

Out of the Clear Blue Sky, A Snake

Only July 25, Jones was mowing her backyard in Silisbee, a small town of 7,000 near the Louisiana border, when the snake suddenly dropped onto her arm and instantly began winding its body around her.

"Just mowing the lawn, minding my own business … [when] out of the clear blue sky, a snake fell onto my arm," Jones told CBS News."I assumed there was [a] hawk carrying it because I was not anywhere near a tree."

2

"He Just Kept Hanging On"

A close up of a snake with its tongue out — iStock / Byronsdad

"The snake was squeezing so hard, and I was waving my arms in the air. And then, this hawk was swooping down clawing at my arm over and over," Jones told Click2Houston.

3

The Hawk Tried to Recover the Snake

A Red tailed hawk going in for the kill — Shutterstock

The bird clawed at her arm as it attempted to free the snake, which was clinging to Jones for dear life. "As I was trying to sling my arm and sling the snake off, the snake wrapped around my arm," she said. "The snake was striking in my face, it struck my glasses a couple of times … I was slinging and slinging, he was striking and striking, and he just kept hanging on."

4

"Help Me, Jesus"

Very close view of a red-tailed hawk with a garter snake in its talons. — Shutterstock

"The hawk grabbed the snake that was wrapped around my arm and pulled it like he was going to carry it away. And when he did, it flung my arm up. The hawk was carrying my arm and the snake with it."

"I just kept saying, 'Help me, Jesus. Help me, Jesus,'" said Jones.

The ordeal lasted about 15 to 20 seconds. "I looked down at my arm and it was totally covered in blood," she added.

5

"She Was Pretty Hysterical"

The hawk swooped at Jones four times before the snake finally lost its grip. With bloody abrasions on her arm and her glasses dented from the lashing snake, Jones ran to her husband in an unintelligible panic.

"By the time I got to her, she was pretty hysterical," Wendell Jones, 66, told the New York Times. "It took me probably three minutes to actually understand what had happened."

6

The Husband Drove Her to the Hospital

Direction sign for a hospital and emergency room — Spiroview Inc / Shutterstock

Wendell drove his wife to a nearby hospital, where she was treated for puncture wounds, cuts, abrasions, and scratches. Doctors bandaged her wounds and gave her antibiotics. She had apparently not been bitten by the snake.

7

Thought "I'm Going to Die Right Here"

At one point during the struggle, Jones didn't think she'd make it out alive. "I think the adrenaline took over, and there was one point before the hawk came that I thought, 'I can't get rid of this … I'm going to die right here,'" she said.

She told the Times she sometimes has weird nightmares about the incident. "Sometimes I'm in a room and there's snakes on the wall and snakes on the ceiling and snakes all over the floor," she said.

8

She Thinks She Is "The Luckiest Person Alive"

But Jones has since gotten back on the tractor—with her husband following behind as a lookout. Next time, she plans to resume her mowing alone. "I consider myself to be the luckiest person alive," she said. "I was attacked by a snake and a hawk, and I lived to tell about it."

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