Ohio Woman Calls 911 After Snake Got Stuck To Her Face

An Ohio woman called 911 Thursday to report that the large boa constrictor she rescued had attached itself to her nose. Her pleas for help were elevated when rescue workers found out that the snake had also wrapped itself around the woman, attempting to cut off her blood and oxygen supply.

The victim, a 45-year-old woman of Sheffield Lake, which is about 10 miles west of Cleveland, called authorities after one of the two boa constrictors she rescued the previous day had attacked her. The transcript of her 911 call was released, and hopefully, the victim has learned her lesson.

The woman, who has not been identified, told the dispatcher during the call that she had rescued two boa constrictors on Wednesday, one of which tried to kill her, and that she owned nine other snakes as well.

“I have a boa constrictor stuck to my face,” the woman yelled once the 911 dispatcher picked up her call.

“Ma’am you have what?” the 911 dispatcher asked.

“Boa constrictor,” the woman repeated. “Please hurry. He’s biting my nose.”

In apparent disbelief, the dispatcher can be heard saying “I’ve never heard of this before.”

Rescue teams were dispatched and arrived in only minutes. They found the woman as she described, lying in the bloodied driveway of her home, the snake holding tight. “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.”

In order to save the woman’s life, a fire fighter used a pocket knife and cut the snake’s head off while it was still attached to the nose of its victim. The woman was transferred to the hospital and sustained non-life threatening injuries.

Boa constrictors kill their prey by gripping it so tightly that blood and oxygen can’t reach the victim’s vital organs. The snake will them slowly tighten its grip on the potential food source until it is dead.

The woman said she had a grand total of 11 snakes: the two rescued boa constrictors and nine ball pythons. Reporters found an empty glass cage and a small pool of blood on the driveway later that afternoon after firefighters beheaded one of the snakes.

Dennis Bring, Sheffield Lake’s mayor, said he was pleased with how authorities handled the incident, according to WAFB. “I’m just really pleased with the paramedic’s response and you know the thought, to think that quick to take out a pocket knife,” Bring told WAFB. “Obviously he had to destroy the snake, but he had no other choice,” Bring said.