Venomous snake found inside high school football player’s helmet

MAUMELLE, Ark. (KATV) — A venomous cottonmouth snake was found inside a Maumelle High School football player’s helmet during practice, prompting a response from Maumelle Animal Services.

The player was not bitten. Chris Davis, director of Maumelle Animal Services, said the outcome could have been far worse.

“If this snake would’ve bit the child, it probably would’ve been very fatal,” Davis said.

Officers were initially called to the high school for a report of a copperhead in a football helmet. Upon arrival, they determined the snake was not a copperhead but rather a cottonmouth, also known as a water moccasin.

“When the officers got there and stuff, they examined the helmet, and at that time they could see that there was a snake in the helmet,” Davis said. “They verified it was not a copperhead but it possibly was a cotton mouth or a water snake.”

Davis said the cottonmouth had nestled into the padding inside the helmet, making removal difficult. Officers had to flood the snake out in order to extract it.

Davis said he has responded to snakes found in car vents, engines, purses, and backpacks — but never inside a helmet.

“I’ve removed a snake out of a car vent, in the engine, purses, backpacks. In a helmet? Never,” Davis said. “It was very unreal. You had to kind of be there and take pictures to say this was real.”

Davis described the cottonmouth as the second most venomous snake in Arkansas, behind the rattlesnake. Cottonmouths are known to hide in dark, sheltered spaces.

Cottonmouths are one of six venomous snakes found in Arkansas. Maumelle Animal Services has since re-homed the snake.