Texas woman's arm healing after hawk-snake attack, but the nightmares linger

Three weeks after a Texas woman said a hawk dropped a squirming snake onto her arm – and then attacked her to retrieve its prey ‒ Peggy Jones says she still has nightmares.

Jones, 64, said she was mowing her lawn with her tractor on July 25 in Silsbee, Texas, near the Louisiana border, when a four-foot-long snake dropped out the sky and landed on her arm.

"It wasn't until moments later I realized a hawk dropped the snake on me," she said.

As Jones shook her right arm to remove the snake, she said a hawk flew down to recapture his prey, stabbing Jones' right arm with its claws in the process.

Jones said the hawk managed to get the snake off of her arm on the fourth try and as painful as it was, it might have been a blessing.

"When I look back at it, the hawk was the reason why I was able to get the snake off my arm," Jones said. "The snake was gripping my arm tight and hissing in my face."

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'I cried every time I told this story'

Jones's husband rushed her to the emergency room, where doctors stabilized her condition. She had deep wound cuts from the hawk and mild bruising from the snake.

She also had venom on her glasses from the snake but none got in her eyes.

"It's been three weeks later and I still have nightmares from that day. I cried every time I told this story in the first two weeks after it happened," Jones said. "The pain now is getting better but the memory of that day isn't."

Jones said she can't use her right arm after the incident. Her husband, children, and grandchildren assist her in daily tasks such as cooking, cleaning, laundry and shopping.

Her biggest fear is one of her open wounds getting infected since she has artificial knees.

"I have to wrap my wound very well and be very cautious," Jones said. "If my wounds get infected its a chance I would have to get new knees again since venom travels to the weakest part of your body."