Day care workers thought child bitten by snake had a splinter, NC staff says

A child was bitten by a snake on the playground at a North Carolina day care, but staff initially thought the serious injury was just a splinter, according to the owner.

Family of the child, a 4-year-old boy, said the day care center in Stony Point never called 911 after he was bitten by a venomous copperhead snake, WSOC reported. Additionally, the day care maintained that the boy must have gotten a splinter or broken his hand, but that changed when the boy’s guardian arrived at the facility, according to the family.

“My first thought was why didn’t they call 911,” the boy’s aunt, Brook Cooper, told the station. “My second thing was like do the parents even know about it.”

The incident happened Thursday, Sept. 4, the New Beginnings Child Enrichment Center said in a statement shared Sept. 6 on Facebook.

According to the day care, the child was playing on the ground when they picked up the snake, which then bit them.

“The child continued to play at first. Staff noticed the child shaking their hand and checked on the hand, believing it might have been a splinter from the mulch,” the day care said. However, the mulch on the playground isn’t actual wood, but rubber, so the situation “seemed unusual.”

“Out of caution, the guardian was called immediately,” the day care said.

The guardian was called and the day care center’s co-director asked if they could remove the splinter, but, on “further examination, however, it became clear that it was not a splinter but a snake bite,” the day care said.

Staff again called the child’s guardian, who came to the day care and took the child to a hospital, “where the child received timely treatment and is now recovering,” the statement read.

A member of staff later located the copperhead and killed it, the center told WSOC.

“We want our families and community to know that this situation was handled quickly, responsibly, and with the child’s care at the center of every decision,” the day care said. “We are also taking added steps with local professionals to further ensure the safety of our outdoor spaces.”

Stony Point is a roughly 60-mile drive northwest from Charlotte.

This story was originally published September 7, 2025 at 11:45 AM with the headline "Day care workers thought child bitten by snake had a splinter, NC staff says."