BARBOURSVILLE, W.Va. - One young shopper at a Wal-Mart in West Virginia had to watch out for more than falling prices.

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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.

Richard Coyle, senior director of international affairs for Wal-Mart, said store employees believe the problem was with a single shipment of watermelons.

"We are very concerned," he said. "This is a very rare incident. When I spoke with the store manager, she said in her 17 years she had never heard of something like this."

ouch poor girl. those scorpions and spiders make me cringe when I see them. I HATE THEM EEK

Hmmmm. Wonder how long it will take for the scammers to import stinging critters so they can sue Walmart??????

Prob wont take long for that SK,to many are looking for the easy pay

glad she was ok

Whats funny is its not those big scorpions you got to worry about its the small transparent ones you have to worry about.

Many years ago, I went to the place where my G.F. at the time worked to pick her up. This was a health food store, she was in the back sweeping up when I heard the most god awful scream, so when I hauled tail back there, I found her all but surrounded by a family of Tarantulas... at least thats what I think they were, she had pushed a box of zero pesticide bananas over to sweep up some dirt and there they were just hanging out until she disturbed them, then it was fight time.
It looked like something out of a B horror movie, fortunately she didn't get bit by anything and I was able to take care of the angry warrior arachnids.