though the incidents are typically isolated, it isn't unusual to read about shoppers injured by insect or animal bites while shopping at Walmart.

Last Tuesday, Jeriel Joiner entered the ranks of these unfortunate shoppers when a trip to a Florida Walmart garden center nearly cost him his life--he was bitten by a Pygmy Rattlesnake coiled beneath a store shelf.

A harrowing near-death experience followed when Joiner had a near fatal allergic reaction to the $30,000 per bottle antivenin. Joiner is still in serious condition. Unwilling to risk another dose of the antivenin, Joiner may be faced with nerve damage or amputation on the bitten arm.

It gets worse! Joiner's case is especially terrifying because, unlike similar incidents, there is a fairly apparent pattern of Pygmy Rattlesnake bites in Walmart stores. In Florida there have been at least four such rattlesnake bites in the past three years. In 1996, Walmart was ordered to pay Frank Agee $6,000 by a U.S. District Court after he was bitten by a rattlesnake in a Texas store. A simple Google search shows even more such bites going back to 1987.

With so many similar incidents, any responsible business would craft a clearly defined plan to contain and handle its rattlesnake problem. Not Walmart.

"There has been nothing," Gross said. "Not one phone call or one visitor (from a Walmart representative)."

After the snake bit Joiner, she said employees didn't offer to help and management seemed nowhere to be found. In the end, only an "elderly greeter" came to their rescue, batting at the snake with an old broom. She even had to call for an ambulance using her own cell phone, Gross said.

"I was really upset with how they handled the situation," Gross said.

Unfortunately, this is exactly what we've come to expect from Walmart.

Read the full article in the Daytona Beach News-Journal