Photo by Michael Jerrard on Unsplash
It’s not every day that someone makes an attempt on your life. But Elijah Bowles believes that’s exactly what happened last week, when he picked up a package at the Twentynine Palms Post Office and found a live rattlesnake inside.
Someone had put cotton balls in the box so postal workers wouldn’t hear the snake’s rattle, the 60-year-old truck driver said.
“That’s attempted murder, if you ask me,” he said.
Bowles picked up the package Thursday and asked a friend to open it as they drove away from the post office that serves the Mojave Desert town near Joshua Tree National Park.
“When she opened the box, she threw it at me almost,” he said. “And she says, ‘There’s a snake in there.’”
Bowles pulled over and put the box by the curb, then used a stick to open it. He estimates the snake was about 2 feet long. He called 911 and Animal Control.
