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WKMG (Orlando, Florida) 25 July 06 Snake Bites Man At Central Fla. Wal-Mart
A man was treated with anti-venin after he was bit by a snake in the garden department of a Central Florida Wal-Mart, according to Local 6 News.
Officials said a man was reaching into a plant Monday at a Wal-Mart in Sanford, Fla., located on U.S. Highway 192 when the snake bit his hand.
The man was treated and should recover from the bite, Local 6 News reported.
Tuesday, Wal-Mart is assuring customers that Central Florida stores are safe and that it was an isolated incident.
Trappers captured and killed the snake after a portion of the store was closed.
Wal-Mart is not saying what kind of snake was captured in the store, Local 6 News reported.
Snake Bites Man At Central Fla. Wal-Mart

Video link at URL below

WESH (Winter Park, Florida) 25 July 06 Man Bit By Snake In Garden Dept. Of Sanford Wal-Mart
Sanford, Fla: A shopping trip to a Wal-Mart store turned into a trip to the hospital for a man in Sanford.
He was bitten by a snake in the garden department, WESH 2 News reported.
The 51-year-old man was taken to Central Florida Regional Hospital, and officials said he has been admitted for observation. Officials said the snake was a pygmy rattlesnake.
The victim has not been identified.
The man's friends said they were shopping at a Wal-Mart at U.S. Highway 17-92 and Lake Mary Boulevard when the man, who was using a motorized wheelchair, reached into a plant and was bitten on the hand.
"He yelled. I was in the next aisle and he started yelling, 'I got bit by a snake. I got bit by a snake,'" said his friend Mary Panagopulos. "I ran over there and I saw the snake on him. I ran to get somebody."
"When I came around, his hand was still in the bushes. He was pulling it out with the snake attached to it," said witness Jerry Battaglia. "And then another snake fell down and ran underneath."
Battaglia said the man was bitten by a snake that was between 15 and 18 inches long.
Wal-Mart acknowledged the incident in a statement but said employees only found one snake. The snake that bit the man was killed.
"It was an isolated incident. We are taking precautions to make sure it doesn't happen again. Safety of our customers is our highest priority," a company representative said.
The man's friends said he received antivenin at the hospital and he is in stable condition.
Man Bit By Snake In Garden Dept

"And then another snake fell down and ran underneath"

...It is hard to believe a witness statement that has a snake running away!
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Bryan, Atlanta GA

1-0-0 Rescued Ball Python - Apep
0-0-1 Rescued Bearded Dragon - Zeus
0-0-1 Rescued Non-Alpha Green Iguana - Bud
1-2-0 Rescued Rats... no wait... ROTTEN Little Cats - Ra, Bastet, Isis
0-0-1 Rescued Fit and Trim Panda Hamster - Mr. Fluffy
1-0-0 Horse... whoops... BIG Golden Retriever - Jake
0-1-0 Wife
2-0-0 Kids

"Snakes at a Wal-Mart" sounds like a sequel to "Snakes on a Plane".

Yeah, and "Venomous Snakes Ambushing WalMart Shoppers" is approaching urban legend status. Between the people planting snakes there hoping for a settlement and the times it really happens, it gets talked about enough.

From the archives ... full text available to those that are truly bored ... (all refs to Wal-Mart burying tortoises or building on endangered species land were culled) ...

WTLV (Jacksonville, Florida) 30 May 06 Snake Bites Shopper (Lindy Thackston)
Jacksonville, FL: Delaine Jarrell wanted to buy flowers to plant around the swing in her backyard. It was going to be a surprise for her husband's 73rd birthday.
She went to the Wal-Mart Garden Center, and was picking out the two healthiest plants, when she says, it felt like she was stung by a hornet.
Instead, she says a snake had latched on to her forearm.
…
http://www.firstcoastnews.com/news/topstories/news-article.aspx?storyid=58494

WBBH (Ft Myers, Florida) 27 April 05 Teen survives snake bite
…
And two years ago a Jacksonville man was also bitten by a water moccasin while shopping in a lawn and garden section of a Wal-Mart.
http://www.nbc-2.com/articles/readarticle.asp?articleid=3169&z=3&p=

COASTAL COURIER (Hinesville, Georgia) 02 February 05 Man bitten by snake at store (Patrick Donahue)
A call to Liberty 911 was placed at 7:26, reporting a man had been bitten by a snake in the store's lawn and garden center.
Liberty County Animal Control officer Linda Cordry said the snake was captured and taken with the man, whose name has not been released, to the Liberty Regional Medical Center emergency room.
"We got a plastic container and got the snake in it," she said.
The snake, a 10-inch long baby timber rattler, was eventually destroyed.
Wal-Mart store officials could not be reached for comment.
….
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=13872083&BRD=1389&PAG=461&dept_id=161952&rfi=6

DAILY WORLD (Opelousas, Louisiana) 12 December 04 Man alleges snake bite at local Wal-Mart (Jacqueline Cochran)
Wal-Mart officials said Friday they have received a complaint from a customer who claims to have been bitten by a snake while shopping in the Opelousas store's garden center.
…
http://www.dailyworld.com/html/A4827E8D-A95D-43C9-8B97-3429565B4E02.shtml

ROCKDALE CITIZEN (Georgia) 18 June 04 Snake causes stir at Wal-Mart parking lot
Covington: A banded water snake that decided to try its luck at hitchhiking created quite a stir at Wal-Mart in Covington Thursday afternoon.
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http://www.rockdalecitizen.net/sc/archive/2004/965.htm

MOBILE REGISTER (Alabama) 27 January 04 Boy bites snake - Surprise reception for slithering guest
…
Toni Barnard of Semmes said she opened a bag of potatoes from Wal-Mart on Schillinger Road on Saturday night. When her back was turned, a snake apparently slithered out of the bag. Her 11-month old son Trevor grabbed it and did what he does with everything these days: he put it in his mouth and took a bite.
Barnard said she got the snake out of her baby's fist, and someone else cut off the snake's head. She said she was told that the snake was a baby copperhead, but be cause it didn't bite her son, he wasn't injured. The snake species was not positively identified by either Barnard or Wal-Mart.
Based on descriptions in standard references, the snake may to be a young corn snake (Elaphe guattata). These non-poisonous snakes rural areas in the South. Their diet of rodents and reddish splotches on a silvery background has inspired the name "red rat snake.
…
http://www.al.com/news/mobileregister/index.ssf?/base/news/1075198572124350.xml

NEWS 9 (San Antonio, Texas) 03 October 03 Hospital: Wal-Mart shopper didn't suffer snake bite
Brownwood (AP): More questions have emerged surrounding a Brownwood area man's contention that he was bitten by a rattlesnake in a Brownwood Wal-Mart.
KBWD-AM and KOXE-FM in Brownwood reported that Brownwood Regional Medical Center doctors told police that Douglas Hatchett had not been bitten by a rattler when they examined him Monday.
Brownwood Police Chief Virgil Corwin referred questions to Brown County prosecutor Michael Murray, who did not return a phone call from The Associated Press for comment. Also, neither Hatchett nor hospital officials returned phone calls from the AP.
…
http://news9sanantonio.com/content/top_stories/default.asp?ArID=5505

ABC 28 (Lubbock, Texas) 02 October 03 Brownwood Wal-Mart Investigating Rattlesnake Incident
Brownwood, Texas: An incident at a Wal-Mart department store is "rattling" up conflicting opinions.
A 31-year old Brownwood man wants Wal-Mart to pay his medical bills after claiming he was bitten by a rattlesnake while shopping in the store's shoe department. …
Meanwhile, Wal-Mart continues to investigate the incident. A store official says police told him the snake didn't look freshly killed.
http://home.abc28.com/Global/story.asp?S=1465471

NEWS HOUSTON 24 (Texas) 01 October 03 Man says Wal-Mart should pay medical bills after snake bite
Brownwood-(AP): A man who claims he was bitten by a rattlesnake in a Wal-Mart says he wants the store to pay his medical bills.
Douglas Hatchett says he doesn't plan to seek any additional money.
The 31-year-old Bangs resident claims he was bitten by a rattlesnake Monday while shopping for shoes at a Wal-Mart in Brownwood.
He says as he reached for a pair of shoes, a Western diamondback rattler bit him on the hand. He then stomped it to death.
…
http://www.news24houston.com/content/headlines/?ArID=15890&SecID=2

SARASOTA HERALD-TRIBUNE (Florida) 09 April 03 Man bitten by snake at Wal-Mart in Live Oak goes home
(AP): A man returned home Wednesday after spending two weeks in a Gainesville hospital recovering from a snake bite sustained while shopping in a lawn and garden section of a Wal-Mart.
…
Parkin said he hasn't filed a lawsuit against Wal-Mart, but he believes the store was negligent because it failed to use snake repellent, which the attorney says is provided by corporate offices.
…
Since 1987, there have been at least five incidents in which customers were bitten by snakes while shopping in the garden sections of retail stores. Four were in Wal-Marts, in Fort Walton Beach, North Fort Myers, Sunrise and Tallahassee. One was in a Kmart in Davie.
http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?Date=20030409&Category=APN&ArtNo=304091252&Ref=AR

WJXX-ABC25 (Jacksonville, Florida) 09 April 03 Man continues to recover from snake bite
Gainesville, Florida: Thirty-seven year-old Anthony Parkin is continuing to recover at Shands Gainesville two weeks after being bit on the thumb by a cottonmouth snake at a Live Oak Wal-Mart. … Anthony Parkin in the meantime says he’s thankful to be alive but plans to sue Wal-Mart for what happened.
http://www.firstcoastnews.com/news/news-article.aspx?storyid=2734

LONDON FREE PRESS (Ontario) 30 March 03 Mom finds dead frog in baby's new jacket
A Woodstock mom was bummed out to find a smelly dead frog sewn inside her baby's new jacket.
Jessica Aube said she bought a Bum brand jacket for her one-year-old son, Michael, last month at the Wal-Mart in Woodstock.
"I went to put it on him the other day and it smelled," she said. "My whole closet reeked."
She also noticed a hard object inside the sleeve.
When she returned the jacket to the Wal-Mart, staff cut open the seam and found a dead frog sewn into the lining.
Aube said Wal-Mart gave her another jacket and a $30 gift certificate and said a letter of apology would also be sent.
http://www.canoe.ca/LondonNews/06n2.html

THE GARDEN ISLAND (Kauai, Hawaii) 28 March 03 Four-foot-long snake found near Wal-Mart
A passerby bagged a four-foot-long gopher snake Monday morning near the access road to Wal-Mart in Lihu'e.
…
http://www.kauaiworld.com/archives/index.inn?loc=detail&doc=/2003/March/28-1124-news02.txt

LOS ANGELES TIMES (California) 02 August 01 But the snakes are coming! Prepare for a chance meeting ahead of time. (Robert Burns)
Rattlesnakes in the Bay Area aren't shaking their booties before they strike.
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The Pigmy Rattlesnake Homepage (http://www.stetson.edu/departments/biology/pigpage.html) is brought to us by Stetson University's Pig Team, which stands for academics need to get out more. But probably not at big-box retailers. The site tells us that since 1987, pigmy rattlers have bitten four shoppers in stores: three at Wal-Marts and one at a Kmart. Diamondbacks apparently prefer the mall.
…
http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-000062767aug02.story?coll=la-headlines-technology

DAILY STAR (Hammond, Louisiana) 03 April 01 Albany man gets unusual bite at Wal-Mart (Dori Claytor)
A pygmy rattlesnake bit an Albany man's finger Monday while the man was shopping for flowers in the Wal-Mart SuperCenter Garden Center in Hammond.
…
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=1622963&BRD=1423&PAG=461&dept_id=169546&rfi=6

Thats a lot of snakes! I have to hand it to you on your search ability the Covington Walmart in GA is the one I go to and I heard nothing about that!
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Bryan, Atlanta GA

1-0-0 Rescued Ball Python - Apep
0-0-1 Rescued Bearded Dragon - Zeus
0-0-1 Rescued Non-Alpha Green Iguana - Bud
1-2-0 Rescued Rats... no wait... ROTTEN Little Cats - Ra, Bastet, Isis
0-0-1 Rescued Fit and Trim Panda Hamster - Mr. Fluffy
1-0-0 Horse... whoops... BIG Golden Retriever - Jake
0-1-0 Wife
2-0-0 Kids

You mean to tell me that I've been rolling all these heavy logs and slogging through knee deep mud, and all I had to do was head over to WalMart?

Well, they tout it as "Your one stop shopping destination." I guess that they aren't kidding (lol). I have to admit that I was a bit cautious while poking around the garden center at our local wally-world last night.

rgds,
althea

I think they are just escapees from Walmart's newest venture. They are going to start carrying snakes now. They heard about the money that can be made and they are planning to undercut the breeders! No small business is safe!
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Bryan, Atlanta GA

1-0-0 Rescued Ball Python - Apep
0-0-1 Rescued Bearded Dragon - Zeus
0-0-1 Rescued Non-Alpha Green Iguana - Bud
1-2-0 Rescued Rats... no wait... ROTTEN Little Cats - Ra, Bastet, Isis
0-0-1 Rescued Fit and Trim Panda Hamster - Mr. Fluffy
1-0-0 Horse... whoops... BIG Golden Retriever - Jake
0-1-0 Wife
2-0-0 Kids