{"id":995,"date":"2026-09-14T00:43:35","date_gmt":"2026-09-14T00:43:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/2026\/09\/14\/animal-loving-boy-6-thought-he-was-petting-a-lizard-it-was-actually-a-venomous-snake-and-it-attacked-him\/"},"modified":"2026-09-14T00:43:35","modified_gmt":"2026-09-14T00:43:35","slug":"animal-loving-boy-6-thought-he-was-petting-a-lizard-it-was-actually-a-venomous-snake-and-it-attacked-him","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/2026\/09\/14\/animal-loving-boy-6-thought-he-was-petting-a-lizard-it-was-actually-a-venomous-snake-and-it-attacked-him\/","title":{"rendered":"Animal-Loving Boy, 6, Thought He Was Petting a Lizard. It Was Actually a Venomous Snake \u2014 and It Attacked Him"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The boy was rushed to the hospital for anti-venom treatment<\/p>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/people.com\/thmb\/S_4SyoqhB5Uw9aatte4nUUbrRlA=\/filters:no_upscale():max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():format(jpeg)\/Animal-Loving-Boy-Kenzie-Macrae-6-Bitten-By-Venomous-Snake-9db428d4dedc49c3b8b2c33c46eafec4.jpg\" alt=\"Kenzie Macrae; the venomous snake that bit KenzieCredit: Kennedy News and Media\" title=\"KENZIE MACRAE, 6, IN HOSPITAL AFTER BEING BITTEN BY AN ADDER WHILE PLAYING IN THE PARK\" \/><figcaption><i>Kenzie Macrae; the venomous snake that bit Kenzie<br \/>Credit: Kennedy News and Media<\/i><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h3>NEED TO KNOW<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>An animal-loving boy came across what he thought was a common slow worm, a species of legless lizard, in his local park and began petting it<\/li>\n<li>Suddenly, the reptile \u2014 which was actually a venomous snake \u2014 attacked and bit the 6-year-old\u2019s left index finger<\/li>\n<li>The boy was rushed to the hospital for anti-venom treatment<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>A seemingly innocent animal encounter in a local park turned into a harrowing ordeal for a young boy.<\/p>\n<p>Six-year-old Kenzie Macrae, described as an animal lover, went to a local park to play after school on Aug. 10, and his friend spotted what he thought was a common slow worm, a non-venomous species of legless lizard native to Europe, per Kennedy News and Media. Kenzie, who is from Sutherland, Scotland, went to pet the \u201clizard\u201d when it suddenly attacked him and bit his left index finger.<\/p>\n<p>As it turned out, the reptile was an adder, a small, venomous snake.<\/p>\n<p>Kenzie, who was in shock over the attack, ran to his grandmother\u2019s house, across the street from the park, for help. His finger had already begun to swell and turn white.<\/p>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/people.com\/thmb\/unxSNolZmMHFJPd2Bzy7IUNbfww=\/fit-in\/640x480\/Animal-Loving-Boy-Kenzie-Macrae-6-Bitten-By-Venomous-Snake-4-ee265ffa6efa4840be0b2a51abc595f8.jpg\" alt=\"Kenzie Macrae in the hospitalCredit: Kennedy News and Media\" title=\"Kenzie Macrae\" \/><figcaption><i>Kenzie Macrae in the hospital<br \/>Credit: Kennedy News and Media<\/i><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Kenzie was rushed to the hospital for anti-venom treatment. By that point, his whole hand and wrist had become inflamed, and he had temporarily lost function in his fingers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe said it was very painful. Initially, he was in shock and kind of disorientated,\u201d recalled Kenzie\u2019s mom, Andrea Denoon, who rushed from work to the hospital to be by her son\u2019s side.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOnce I arrived at the hospital, his whole hand and just above his wrist had swollen up. He was struggling to bend his fingers \u2014 his whole hand was inflamed. It was massive,\u201d Andrea, 38, said, adding, \u201cA lot of nurses and doctors had never seen it before, especially on children.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/people.com\/thmb\/2shvdAXLFDYg_BKHDke-axL2_1E=\/fit-in\/640x480\/Animal-Loving-Boy-Kenzie-Macrae-6-Bitten-By-Venomous-Snake-3-61aa569f1e6b45a69454dcf1bc46baa8.jpg\" alt=\"Kenzie Macrae\u2019s swollen handCredit: Kennedy News and Media\" title=\"KENZIE MACRAE, 6, IN HOSPITAL AFTER BEING BITTEN BY AN ADDER WHILE PLAYING IN THE PARK\" \/><figcaption><i>Kenzie Macrae\u2019s swollen hand<br \/>Credit: Kennedy News and Media<\/i><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>One of Kenzie\u2019s friends had taken a picture of the snake that bit him, which she said was \u201cvery handy\u201d for identifying it.<\/p>\n<p>Never miss a story \u2014 sign up for <a href=\"https:\/\/people.com\/people-news-daily-newsletter-sign-up-8692701\">PEOPLE\u2019s free daily newsletter<\/a> to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.<\/p>\n<p>When Kenzie\u2019s finger turned blue and the venom continued to spread up his arm, doctors administered another dose of anti-venom. They grew concerned that the 6-year-old may have gone into anaphylaxis when his heart rate and breathing levels began to drop.<\/p>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/people.com\/thmb\/si3DiziM4gxpPg8mUXHdmPjH6yI=\/fit-in\/1280x960\/Animal-Loving-Boy-Kenzie-Macrae-6-Bitten-By-Venomous-Snake-1-da232ee1c0c749deb4b909c945b748be.jpg\" alt=\"The snake that bit Kenzie MacraeCredit: Kennedy News and Media\" title=\"KENZIE MACRAE, 6, IN HOSPITAL AFTER BEING BITTEN BY AN ADDER WHILE PLAYING IN THE PARK\" \/><figcaption><i>The snake that bit Kenzie Macrae<br \/>Credit: Kennedy News and Media<\/i><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cYou can go into anaphylaxis from this anti-venom, and your organs can start shutting down,\u201d Andrea explained. \u201cThat\u2019s what we thought was happening because his breathing and heart rate were really low, but it was because he was in that much of a deep sleep and so tired.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was very scary [when we thought his organs were shutting down]. I didn\u2019t sleep for two days,\u201d she continued. \u201cIt was just a constant hand-on-chest listening to his breathing and watching him the whole time.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/people.com\/thmb\/_7klFCWwSN16X-X91ypi6HkZs7U=\/fit-in\/640x480\/Animal-Loving-Boy-Kenzie-Macrae-6-Bitten-By-Venomous-Snake-6-3624c83315e1490dad343fc52514bef7.jpg\" alt=\"Kenzie Macrae with his familyCredit: Kennedy News and Media\" title=\"PARENTS ANDREA DENOON, 38, AND SHAUN MACRAE, 37, WITH CHILDREN KENZIE MACRAE, 6, AND BROOKE MACRAE\" \/><figcaption><i>Kenzie Macrae with his family<br \/>Credit: Kennedy News and Media<\/i><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Kenzie ultimately made a full recovery, but 11 days after going home, he was hospitalized again with serum sickness, an immune-system reaction to certain proteins in medicines, according to the <a class=\"null\" href=\"https:\/\/my.clevelandclinic.org\/health\/diseases\/serum-sickness\" data-component=\"link\" data-source=\"inlineLink\" data-type=\"externalLink\" data-ordinal=\"1\" rel=\"null\">Cleveland Clinic<\/a> \u2014 in Kenzie\u2019s case, his body was reacting to the anti-venom treatment. The boy was experiencing symptoms including joint inflammation and a rash.<\/p>\n<p>Andrea said her son is \u201cabsolutely fine now,\u201d and she is continuing to keep an eye on him after his ordeal.<\/p>\n<p>She wants to warn other parents of the dangers of snake bites.<\/p>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/people.com\/thmb\/up-cTA5qTSuFI0sNIehCiANtqLE=\/fit-in\/640x480\/Animal-Loving-Boy-Kenzie-Macrae-6-Bitten-By-Venomous-Snake-5-24433610d1c84535a833dce9baf12044.jpg\" alt=\"Kenzie MacraeCredit: Kennedy News and Media\" title=\"Kenzie Macrae\" \/><figcaption><i>Kenzie Macrae<br \/>Credit: Kennedy News and Media<\/i><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cI was massively shocked by the effect of the bite. It could\u2019ve been a lot worse, but it\u2019s a scary situation to be in,\u201d she said, noting, \u201cYou don\u2019t know how each person is going to react to it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As for Kenzie, Andrea said that, despite all he went through, he \u201chas no fear of snakes, even now.\u201d<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The boy was rushed to the hospital for anti-venom treatment Kenzie Macrae; the venomous snake that bit KenzieCredit: Kennedy News and Media NEED TO KNOW An animal-loving boy came across what he thought was a common slow worm, a species of legless lizard, in his local park and began petting it Suddenly, the reptile \u2014 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-995","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-everything-else"],"wpmagazine_modules_lite_featured_media_urls":{"thumbnail":"","cvmm-medium":"","cvmm-medium-plus":"","cvmm-portrait":"","cvmm-medium-square":"","cvmm-large":"","cvmm-small":"","full":""},"categories_names":{"1":{"name":"Everything Else","link":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/category\/everything-else\/"}},"tags_names":[],"comments_number":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/995","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=995"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/995\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=995"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=995"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=995"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}