BRISTOL — After going face-to-leg with a 5-foot-long snake while taking groceries into her Jane Lane home, Janet King does not agree with a R.I. Department of Environmental Management (DEM) report stating the snake is indigenous to the area.
“I’ve lived in Bristol for 32 years and I’ve never seen a snake like that, even a garden snake or a grass snake,” she said.
Ms. King said she was standing in her driveway holding a bag of groceries on Monday, July 5, when she looked down and saw a large snake curled up near her foot.
She screamed, at which point the snake darted at her leg. She narrowly avoided being bitten and ran into her house.
“It went after me,” she said. “It was angry. It’s mouth was open.”
After she “pulled herself together,” she called 911 and asked for police to come and check out the area. Neighbors with young children joined her to make sure the snake was removed.
“It was frightening. My neighbors have a pool, and snakes like water. … We wanted it out of the water,” she said.
By the time Bristol Police and DEM officials responded, the snake had wrapped itself in a nearby tree. Officials cut down one of the trees’ branches to apprehend the snake and put it in a cage.
Ms. King said one DEM officer told her the snake was “not of this region” and would be taken to Providence. She did not know what would be done with the animal.
DEM Deputy Chief of Environmental Police Kurt Blanchard said the snake was most likely a king or milk snake, a species indigenous to Bristol and it was not removed from Jane Lane.
Ms. King said the snake did not look like those species and must have been a python.
DEM officials did not return phone calls for this story