CHARLOTTE COUNTY, Fla. — It’s a nightmare for any pet owner: seeing their fur baby killed by a rattlesnake. Unfortunately, that’s the reality a Rotonda West family is facing this week.
Jack, the three-year-old Yorkie, had a personality of his own.
“His tongue was just barely sticking out, I think it was ready to give you the next kiss,” Corrye Hatchell said.
“He didn’t really walk like a normal dog, he pranced,” Major Hatchell added.
The Hatchells said Jack’s love for his family is what saved them.
Hatchell was getting ready to open her lanai porch door when Jack ran through the doggie door to face off with a four-foot rattler.
“Immediately Jack yelped,” Corrye recalled. “I eased the door open to see what it was and Jill was trying to attack the snake. I realized it was a snake and I yelled for him to get the gun, get the gun and tell them what you did….”
“I hit it with the rake and put him out in the yard, and put the rake through his neck,” Major said.
Poor Jack had barely escaped the venomous fangs when the poison started setting in.
“Before he could get to the avocado tree, which is like less than 15 feet away, his back legs were already paralyzing,” Corrye said.
The couple rushed him to an emergency vet but it was too late.
“Jack just didn’t have a chance,” Major said.
Corrye said it wasn’t until she got home that night that she realized she could have been the one bitten.
“That snake was big enough that he definitely would have killed me,” she said. “All I can do is praise God for Jack’s instinct and for what he has allowed to happen that I lived and Jack’s gone. Jack will always be a hero… as well as Major for killing the snake.”
It’s not just Jack’s sacrifice that’s lifting the Hatchell’s spirits tonight, it’s the reminder that this is nothing compared to the meaning of Easter weekend.
“The impact of it being Holy Week made that sacrifice that he made so insignificant to the precious lamb of Jesus Christ that was crucified,” Corrye said. “I just want Him to be glorified in all of this. If Jack lost his life, let’s give God the glory. Thank you, Jesus.”
The Hatchells brought Jack back home and buried him under a tree beside a cross donated by one of their neighbors.