Shelter cat saves 81-year-old Tennessee man from copperhead

CLAIBORNE COUNTY, Tenn. — A shelter cat helped protect an 81-year-old Tennessee man by killing a copperhead snake last week.

Jimmie Nelson, of Speedwell, is a stroke victim. Shelly is a cat his daughter adopted from the Claiborne County Animal Shelter and gave it to her widowed father, WBIR reported.

"He loves her, he doesn't wanna act like he pays attention but I've caught him actually petting and loving on her," Teresa Seals told the television station.

Shelly made an impact quickly, killing a copperhead that slithered into Nelson's home.

"I think the Lord sent the cat to us to save my dad," Seals told WBIR.

Nelson said he has lived in the same home for 60 years, but it was the first time a snake had crawled in.

"I've killed a million copperhead and rattlesnakes here on the place, but that was the one time it was close," Nelson told WBIR.

Nelson said he heard a noise in the middle of the night and dismissed it, believing the cat was playing in the house. He saw the dead snake a few days later.

"I got out and looked under the table and there laid a snake," Nelson told WBIR.

"On the side of the snake's neck and head there were claw marks and one big slash, so we knew right then that the cat had definitely killed the snake and then brought it out a few days later to show it to her little dad," Seals told the television station.

Cox Media Group