Ohio boa constrictor: Firefighters kill snake 'stuck to woman's face'

This happened right up the road from me. Talk about hysterics. Too bad I wasn't around.

Firefighters in the US state of Ohio have rescued a woman who telephoned 911 in terror, pleading, "Oh, please! I have a boa constrictor stuck to my face!"

"Ma'am, you have a what?" the operator replied. "You're outside with a boa constrictor stuck to your face?"

The terrified woman explained that the 5ft 5in (1.6m) snake had wrapped itself around her and bitten her nose.

She said she had "rescued" the snake and another boa on Wednesday.
An ambulance was swiftly dispatched to the woman, who was found lying in her driveway in the town of Sheffield Lake with the snake around her neck.

"It was wrapped around her neck and biting her nose and wouldn't let go," fire chief Tim Card said, according to the local Chronicle-Telegram.
"They had to cut its head off with a knife to get it to let go of her face."

The 45-year-old explained her plight to the 911 operator, pleading, "There's blood everywhere!"

"I've never heard of this before," the dispatcher exclaimed, before urging the woman not to move.

Boa constrictors kill their prey by gripping it so tightly that blood and oxygen can't reach the victim's vital organs.

The woman, who said she had 11 snakes, was taken to hospital for treatment after the incident on Thursday. Her injuries were not said to be life-threatening.

Mr Card said the emergency services had disposed of the dead snake in a bin near Sheffield Lake City Hall.

A local reporter who visited the scene that afternoon found an empty glass cage on the pavement, and a small pool of blood on the driveway.


https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...ere/522437001/

Talk about overreacting... This is a disgusting outcome. I pity the snake

So she "rescues" but doesn't know the white vinegar trick for getting a foody snake to turn you loose? I've broken food responses on retics that way - fortunately the little snot had grabbed the hook and not me though!

She may have initially panicked, but by the time the FD arrived, she could have had the situation in hand (literally and figuratively). Vinegar, water spray, booze, even a rubber spatula could have helped the situation. Now the snake is dead. I sincerely hope it's a learning experience for her.

Originally Posted by DLenaRuth999s

I sincerely hope it's a learning experience for her.

This should also be a learning experience for rescues, and questioning potential adopters to find out just how much time they've spent owning and/or caring for larger snakes and lizards, before sending critters to their new homes.

I agree. I don't know how it is in other places, or with independent rescues, it the Erie County SPCA grills prospective adopters quite thoroughly.