Texas woman attacked by hawk that dropped snake on her arm

A Southeast Texas woman says she recently suffered a bizarre attack involving both a snake and a hawk. Peggy Jones of Silsbee, a town located about 103 miles northeast of Houston, was mowing her lawn with her tractor at around 8 p.m. last Tuesday when she noticed a snake fall from the sky and wrap itself around her arm, according to a report from The Silsbee Bee, a community paper. Peggy, who said she was so frightful that she started shaking, told The Bee that the snake—which she and her husband, Wendell, estimated was four and a half feet long—started striking her glasses, leaving them chipped.

“I was violently shaking my arm to try and get the snake off,” Peggy said, adding there was even venom on her right lens. “He just wrapped and squeezed tighter and tighter.”

That’s when a hawk, which Peggy believes dropped the snake, swooped down and began to peck on the snake and at her arm. Wendell, told The Bee that the hawk tried to retrieve the snake from his wife’s arm, lifting her arm straight up more than once. Its sharp claws left her arm shredded and bloodied. “The hawk was darting in and out grabbing for the snake,” Peggy said. “His wings were slapping me while he was clawing at the snake and that is where the deeper cuts and rips came from. When he flew off he had the snake in his claws.” 

Eventually, the hawk succeeded in snatching up the snake and flew off with it. Peggy was taken to the hospital, where her wounds were bandaged. “The story was so bizarre that even the doctor asked if she was on sort of drugs as she was telling the story,” Wendell told The Bee. Peggy returned home but is keeping an eye out if other complications develop.

“I was so frightened I began screaming and asking Jesus to please help me,” Peggy told The Bee. “I feel it was by the grace of God I am still alive and able to tell my story.”