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A venomous snake bit a beloved Triangle puppeteer, leaving him unable to walk.
Tarish Pipkins, whose stage name is Jeghetto, had the fateful encounter with a copperhead before he was set to debut the first session of his Neurodivergent Puppet Camp for children.
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“I had to cancel that,” Pipkins told The News & Observer via email Wednesday, July 22. “There were also a few performances that I had to cancel and reschedule. So this injury is taking a toll on my family financially.”
Pipkins said he has been having a hard time putting weight on his left foot after an evening of yard work took a turn in early July. He had just mowed his lawn when he switched from boots to sandals to give his feet some air.
“I walked through my backyard close to the house and stepped on a copperhead,” Pipkins wrote. “I felt it under my foot and heard a croak sound. I assumed it was a toad until I felt a sharp pain strike my middle toe.”
It happened in Efland, a roughly 20-mile drive northwest from downtown Durham. Pipkins’ family scrambled to help before he jumped in the car to go to an emergency room in Hillsborough.
“The ride was intense,” Pipkins wrote. “The pain was beyond tears so I started meditating and doing breathing exercises to try and stay calm.”
Pipkins had a swollen foot and broke out in hives from the antivenom, but still he managed to find humor. While at the hospital, he scrolled through Instagram and stumbled upon another puppeteer working on a snake design. So, Pipkins let out a good laugh and shared his ordeal in the comments.
“He sent me his puppet design via DM,” Pipkins told The N&O. “That’s the first thing I’m going to build when I recover.”
Pipkins started making puppets when he was 30 years old. Over the years, he has delighted crowds with creations that range from a roaring dinosaur to a cellist playing music. And there was the time that his dog puppet moved in ways that perplexed a real-life canine, according to Jeghetto’s Entertainment, LLC and videos posted on social media.
You may recognize Pipkins from his performances at local schools and events. But he also has worked on projects with celebrities ranging from singer Pharrell Williams to actor Alec Baldwin. And he previously served on the board of the Jim Henson Foundation, named for the well-known Muppets creator.
These days, Pipkins works at Hope Creek Academy in Durham, where he teaches students with developmental disabilities and has led a puppetry elective. Before the copperhead bite, he was looking forward to bringing neurodivergent children to Mebane for a summer camp.
But as Pipkins struggled to walk, he canceled the session for the week of July 20. Now, he holds onto hope as he plans to launch the second session on Aug. 10.
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“This is the most challenging injury that I’ve had,” Pipkins wrote. “There’s nothing I can do but wait for the venom to leave my body.”
From July 1 to July 3 — the time period when Pipkins was bitten — N.C. Poison Control fielded roughly 20 bite reports. Almost all of them were “known copperhead bites,” Alexa Steverson, manager of communications and content development, told The N&O in a Friday, July 24 email.
Copperheads are found throughout North Carolina and tend to avoid people. But the species is comfortable living near humans, and it’s believed to be behind more than 90% of venomous snake bites in the state, the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission wrote on its website.
“They’re not always trying to interact with the snake, and honestly, copperheads have excellent camouflage,” Falyn Owens, wildlife extension biologist for the commission, told The N&O in a Thursday, July 23 phone interview. “Their patterning and their coloration looks a lot like dead leaves.”
To help prevent bites, experts recommend wearing closed-toe shoes outside and gloves for yard work. Also, it’s best to look before reaching under brush or into piles of wood, where a snake could be lurking.
Though some people accidentally step on or touch copperheads, many bites happen when people try to interact with them. So, North Carolinians are urged to keep their distance and leave the snakes alone, The N&O previously reported.
Bites from copperheads — which have brown bodies with hourglass-shaped bands — should be taken seriously. While their bites rarely lead to death, people may experience pain and swelling.
Here’s what the N.C. Poison Control website recommends people do after snake bites:
“The other thing is not to use any of the old wives’ tale recommendations about what to do with snake bites, which is things like trying to suck out the venom or use a tourniquet to [keep] the venom from moving around in the body,” Owens said. “Those methods don’t work, and they can actually make the situation worse.”
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