A 9-year-old Florida boy almost made a fatal mistake when he approached one of the world’s most venomous snakes, thinking it was a “stuffed animal.”
According to WESH 2, Angelo Owens was at his grandmother’s house in Longwood on Wednesday when he saw something in the corner of the yard.
“I thought it was a stuffed toy,” said the boy, but as he got closer he realized it was a very live snake.
The boy quickly went inside to tell his family about his discovery. They initially believed that Angelo had encountered a harmless snake. However, they quickly became aware of the danger when they heard the sound of the 1.2 meter long diamondback rattlesnake.
“A very loud whistle. “You could hear it two or three houses away…it was loud,” the boy’s father explained.
He said his son’s experience was “scary.” Since then, he has thought about how his boy could have died if he had gotten too close to the animal.