Texas woman gets in 'freak incident' while mowing lawn as she's simultaneously attacked by snake and hawk
SILSBEE, TEXAS: A Texas woman found herself entangled in an unlikely encounter while taking care of her lawn. Peggy Jones, the woman at the center of this tale, was operating her mower when unexpectedly, a snake landed directly on her and coiled itself around her arm, gripping it with an unrelenting force.
"I was mowing on our property when out of the sky, out of the clear blue, a snake fell onto my arm," said Jones about the surreal moment. Efforts to extricate the snake only led to it tightening its grip and launching strikes at her face, even attacking her glasses. Battling the serpent, Jones attempted to shake it off, only to find herself in the crosshairs of another airborne assailant, as a hawk descended upon her with relentless clawing, repeatedly targeting her arm in an attempt to seize the snake.
Peggy Jones' out-of-the-blue encounter with a hawk and a snake
Throughout the terrifying ordeal, Jones prayed for divine intervention, chanting, "Help me, Jesus, Help me, Jesus," reported Insider. The hawk persisted, diving down repeatedly until it finally managed to pry the snake away. "Finally he got the snake and took off with the snake, and I looked down, and I was covered in blood, my arm was pretty tore up," said Jones to KPRC, adding that she also had "venom" all over the right lens of her glasses.
Jones astonished even the medical professionals with her unbelievable story after she was rushed to the hospital by her husband. Remarkably, her injuries were not severe, but the psychological impact of the encounter left its mark. Jones theorized that the hawk may have accidentally dropped the snake onto her before pursuing its meal by attacking her. While hawks typically prey on small mammals like squirrels and mice, some species, notably the red-tailed hawk, have demonstrated remarkable skills in hunting snakes, including venomous ones.
'It is such a freak incident!'
Bryan Hughes, the owner of Rattlesnake Solutions, offered insights into the bizarre incident, suggesting that the hawk might have inadvertently released the snake while airborne, leading it to land on Jones. "It fell on the woman and hung onto her because this was a panicked, injured animal," he said, continuing, "Then the bird swept down to finish what it started." Hughes shared that such occurrences, while unusual, are not entirely unheard of in the world of nature. "This is not something that people need to start worrying about," Hughes stated, adding, "It is such a freak incident."
Reflecting on the situation, Jones shared her belief that the hawk's intervention potentially saved her life, preventing the snake from inflicting further harm. She expressed gratitude for her unexpected survival, saying, "I think that was God's way of letting me live because I couldn't figure out a way, the snake was not letting go of my arm. I just feel thankful that I'm alive."