A 4-year-old boy was hospitalized after he was bitten by a copperhead snake at a North Carolina day care playground — with the child’s family later learning that the facility never called 911, according to local reports.
The child was playing near a sandbox at the New Beginnings Child Enrichment Center (NBCEC), in Stony Point on Thursday when the venomous serpent bit his left hand, causing the boy’s fingers to swell, WRAL reported.
The boy’s family claimed they were initially told the child had only suffered a splinter or broken hand.
A worker at the center killed the snake following the attack.
Brook Cooper, the boy’s aunt, said it wasn’t until the boy’s family got to the day care that they were told the truth.
“The director got up and said he got snakebit. My first thought was, why didn’t they call 911? My second thing was like, do the other parents even know?” Cooper told local outlets.
What’s worse, Copper alleged that the day care never called 911 about the snake bite, and that it was the child’s guardian who rushed him to the hospital for treatment.
Emergency services in Alexander County confirmed to local outlets that they never received a call from the day care.
No update has been released on the boy’s condition.
County officials said their emergency services unit responds to snake bites every year and helps patients before they’re transported to local hospitals.
NBCEC officials did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.
Copperhead snake bites often lead to large swelling, bruising, and blood blisters around the bite, with people experiencing nausea, vomiting, low blood pressure, and bleeding due to the venom, according to Poison Control.
Symptoms can last for 12 hours, and complications can occur as copperheads are part of the same subfamily of serpents as rattlesnakes and cottonmouths.
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