Fearless great-grandma kills venomous snake with shovel in her Pennsylvania yard

Tuesday, June 25, 2019
Fearless great grandma kills cobra in her Falls Township yard
Fearless great grandma kills cobra in her Falls Township yard. Jeff Chirico has more on Action News at 10 p.m. on June 24, 2019.

FALLS TOWNSHIP, Pennsylvania -- When a woman found a cobra on her patio Monday, she wasn't going to wait around and do nothing until animal control officers arrived.

"I opened the door, I said a bad word. It's a cobra, I knew right away," said Kathy Kehoe.

She says Blue Jays squawking led her to look outside her apartment door. On the patio she found a cobra.

She snapped a few photos first then as the snake slithered away, this no-nonsense great grandmother grabbed her shovel and chased after the four to five-foot snake into the yard.

"He went this way. I stalked him and when he got over to here I tapped his tail. He went up and that's when I did the deed and held him there," she says.

Kehoe thinks the venomous reptile may have been roaming around this apartment complex for months. Back in March, authorities removed 20 venomous snakes from a neighboring apartment, including 12 cobras.

According to Falls Township Police, 25 snakes were removed from a Falls Township apartment by police and an animal expert. Officers say 23 snakes were venomous.

Kehoe had worried that some escaped. She says she knew she needed to kill this one to protect kids in the neighborhood.

"I was just concerned for everybody else because not everyone would know," she said.

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