A call came into 911 Thursday, the likes of which, few people have ever heard.
A woman in Sheffield Lake claims she was being attacked by her 5-and-a-half-foot boa constrictor. The dispatcher calmly tries to assist.
“The boa constrictor has a hold of your nose?” she asks. “Can you pry its jaw open if you picked at the jaw?”
“No, I’m trying, there’s blood everywhere,” the caller says.
That woman on East Lake Road refused to talk about her experience Friday, but gave 911 an earful.
“I just rescued it yesterday!” she says, claiming the boa was one of two she had obtained just the day before. “All of my snakes are put away.”
“How many snakes do you have ma’am?” the dispatcher then asks. “Eleven,” the woman answers. “They’re all ball pythons except for these two I rescued.”
Neighbors on the street declined to comment, although some witnessed the scene after the woman ran outside to wait for EMS.
By that point the snake was wrapped around her waist and biting her face.
A fireman eventually removed the reptile by cutting off its head with a knife. The woman’s injuries were non-life-threatening.
Ed Skuza of E and J Reptile Shows & Rescue believes the woman handled the snake too soon and should have waited at least a week before bringing it out.
He adds that two drops of rubbing alcohol could have gotten it to release its jaws.