Texas woman mowing lawn attacked by snake and hawk

Aug 13, 2023

Snake dropped from the grasp of a hawk in the sky and wrapped itself around the woman’s arm, then the bird tried to retrieve it

A Texas woman is rattled but recovering after being viciously attacked by a snake and a hawk at the same time.

Peggy Jones, 64, was mowing her lawn with her husband at around 8pm in the evening on 25 July in Silsbee, Texas – less than an hour from the Louisiana border – when a large snake fell from the sky and landed on her.

The snake, which had been dropped by a hawk, wrapped itself around her arm – and was then promptly joined by the hawk, which was keen to retrieve its lunch, and began to attack Jones, the local community newspaper The Silsbee Bee reported.

Jones told the paper: “I was violently shaking my arm to try and get the snake off. He just wrapped and squeezed tighter and tighter.”

All the while, the snake was striking her in the face, causing her eyeglasses to chip and spewing a liquid she assumes was venom, Jones recalled.

“The hawk was darting in and out grabbing for the snake,” Jones told the Bee. “His wings were slapping me while he was clawing at the snake and that is where the deeper cuts and rips came from.”

Jones said the hawk retreated and returned to its prey about four times, slapping her in the face with its wings.

“I’m screaming during this whole time, ‘Help me, Jesus! Please, help me, Jesus!’” Jones told the Bee .

Hearing his wife’s screams, her husband Wendell rode over to her on his mower. He was shocked by what he saw.

Jones was crying and running towards him in a zigzag pattern, her arm bloodied with stab wounds from the hawk’s talons. The snake was four and a half feet long by Wendell’s estimate.

Eventually, the hawk flew off with the snake for good.

Sign up to First Thing

Our US morning briefing breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what’s happening and why it matters

after newsletter promotion

Jones was immediately taken to the emergency room by her husband following the bizarre incident. She said the doctor asked her if she was on drugs after hearing her story.

After assuring them this story was true, she was given antibiotics and her arm was bandaged. Luckily, her doctors determined she was not bitten by the snake.

Although she is healing physically, Jones called the attack “scary and traumatic”. But she is grateful to be alive.

She told the Bee: “I feel it was by the grace of God I am still alive and able to tell my story.”