When you think of West Virginia, scorpions don't exactly come to mind, so you can imagine how surprised Megan Templeton was when she was stung while picking up a Watermelon at her local Wal-Mart. Here is yet another reason to shop for locally grown produce: you can't get stung by exotic creatures when you pick up a head of lettuce grown in the next town over. A Watermelon from Mexico, however, can bring all kinds of nasty critters with it, as we can see here.
Here's the AP story via USA Today:
Girl stung by scorpion in Wal-Mart watermelonBARBOURSVILLE, W.Va. (AP) — One young shopper at a Wal-Mart in West Virginia had to watch out for more than falling prices.
A 12-year-old girl picking up a seedless watermelon from a bin was stung Sunday by a tan, inch-long scorpion that had apparently stowed away in a shipment from Mexico.
Megan Templeton, of Barboursville, was taken to the hospital as a precaution but later released. Her father, William Templeton, said the pain was a little worse than a bee sting.
He initially didn't believe his daughter when she said she had been stung by a scorpion, but then he saw the critter scurry underneath a box. It was captured by Wal-Mart employees.
Most of the nearly 2,000 kinds of scorpions are not dangerous to humans.
Posted by Taylor - May 27, 2008 04:50 PM - Hard to Believe
You know my favorite line from this story is "Here is yet another reason to shop for locally grown produce: you can't get stung by exotic creatures when you pick up a head of lettuce grown in the next town over." ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!?? Are the creators of this site really that stupid or do they just not check there facts very good! This is just another example of false information this website is using to try to make walmart look bad because their employees are smart enough to not join the union!! Yes you CAN get stung in many parts of this country by a scorpion! We actually have them here in ARKANSAS! Yes, that's right, Arkansas. I have actually seen them in DOWNTOWN LITTLE ROCK!! they like to hang out in concrete rubble, gravel on the shores of the arkansas river, pinnacle mountain, etc... I have seen them with my own eyes. We also have many poisonous snakes. Which are known to hang out on farmlarnd. We also have poisonous spiders(tarantulas, black widows, and brown recluse), killer bees now, and even a 14 foot alligator was caught in southern arkansas the other day on a state highway! So YES wakeupwalmart.com, you can indeed get stung by an exotic creature when you buy a head of lettuce at a nearby farm or roadside stand. Even in Arkansas which is nearly smack dab in the middle of the US!!!!!
Posted by me - May 28, 2008 12:03 PM
I agree, there are dangerous creatures in the US as well. Growing up, I had to ride my bike past an area crawling with rattlesnakes to get to the local baseball fields.
But then, I knew to EXPECT rattlesnakes. If Wal-Mart started importing spitting cobras, I'd be pretty pissed off... even if they were equally deadly.
Wal-Mart's distribution system is transporting critters, etc, that simply don't belong in certain ecosystems. in that regard, Taylor has a valid point.
Posted by sickofspin - May 28, 2008 03:55 PM
Um, most grocery stores get fruit from those dirty, dirty countries down south. But since Wal-Mart does it, I guess it's evil.
I worked in a fruit warehouse where we packed local fruit. How green, how eco!
We also repack fruit sent up from Chile and New Zealand. And it often had spidies in it.
So try again. There are plenty of reasons to hate Wal Mart, but this one is, not good.
Posted by Hellbound Alleee - May 29, 2008 10:18 AM
Me, i have to agree, This article shows how ignorant most Americans are. Im form Texas, live in Kansas now, been all over the US. Its just another way some fat, unemployeed, social system riding sick, lazy cyst on our society wil lfile another law suit to make up for them screwing our government over. ONE QUESTION: Where were the parents? probably on the other side of the store..Hahaha. Go figure, i don't see the CDS twist on things.
Posted by MSG Taylor - May 31, 2008 11:47 AM
This is for MSG Taylor, I was standing beside my daughter when she was stung. I am Detective with the Sheriff's Dept. and my wife is a Paramedic with EMS. So before you comment on someone maybe you should get the facts. No law suit filed!
Posted by William Templeton - June 5, 2008 03:27 PM
Hi Mr. Templeton,
I'm sorry if I got facts wrong in my post, but I never stated that you had sued Wal-Mart. If you are interested, I'd love to hear your story.
Posted by Taylor - June 5, 2008 05:30 PM