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Fla. Man Bitten By Water Moccasin At Wal-Mart
Victim: 'It Was Like Nothing I Every Felt Before'
Posted: 6:40 a.m. EDT April 10, 2003
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- 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.
David Parkin, 37, was looking at a plant March 23 at the Wal-Mart in Live Oak when he felt a sharp pain in his right arm. He dropped the plant and saw a water moccasin with its fangs sunk into his thumb.
"It started burning the second he got my thumb," Parkin said. "It was like nothing I ever felt before. I'm loaded with tattoos, so I can handle pain."
A friend of Parkin's stomped the snake to death and called 911, said Parkin's attorney, Steve Pajcic of Jacksonville.
Parkin was taken to a local hospital and later airlifted to Gainesville for emergency treatment. Doctors cut open his hand and forearm to relieve swelling, Pajcic said.
Doctors then grafted skin from his thigh to seal up the wounds. He may never regain use of his thumb, Pajcic said.
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.
Wal-Mart spokesman Tom Williams acknowledged the incident and said the retailer is investigating.
"Snakes are kind of an act of God," he said.
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.
Victim: 'It Was Like Nothing I Every Felt Before'
Posted: 6:40 a.m. EDT April 10, 2003
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- 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.
David Parkin, 37, was looking at a plant March 23 at the Wal-Mart in Live Oak when he felt a sharp pain in his right arm. He dropped the plant and saw a water moccasin with its fangs sunk into his thumb.
"It started burning the second he got my thumb," Parkin said. "It was like nothing I ever felt before. I'm loaded with tattoos, so I can handle pain."
A friend of Parkin's stomped the snake to death and called 911, said Parkin's attorney, Steve Pajcic of Jacksonville.
Parkin was taken to a local hospital and later airlifted to Gainesville for emergency treatment. Doctors cut open his hand and forearm to relieve swelling, Pajcic said.
Doctors then grafted skin from his thigh to seal up the wounds. He may never regain use of his thumb, Pajcic said.
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.
Wal-Mart spokesman Tom Williams acknowledged the incident and said the retailer is investigating.
"Snakes are kind of an act of God," he said.
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.
