Woman says rescue cat saved dad from snake

Teresa Seals said when her elderly father wanted an inside pet, they checked out the Claiborne County Animal Shelter website to look for cats.

Seals said her father picked out a rescue cat named Shelly immediately, so Seals went to the shelter to pick up the cat. "I knew she was the one," she said on Facebook.

Shelly turned out to be the one for a reason.

At the end of September, Seals said her father heard his cat moving around the house in the night and thought she had captured a mouse.

Later that same week, Seals said her father's sitter called and said, "There's a snake under the table, I think it's dead. We can't find the cat."

Seals said she left work, picked her husband up and traveled to her father's home where they found a snake beneath the table, thought to be a copperhead.

Seals said the snake appeared to have been dead for awhile and was stiff. "The snake had what appeared [to be] claw marks on its head and neck."

Shelly the cat eventually reappeared and was fine, Seals said. "The cat apparently killed the snake and brought it out to show dad."

Seals called Shelly a "true hero."