Posted on 09/02/2011 3:59:33 AM PDT by rawhide
NORTH BRANCH, MN— A 5-year-old North Branch girl is recovering after an unusual run-in with a bat at a retail store.
On these final days of summer, Zoe Zachrison would normally be enjoying the outdoors. Instead, she’s barely able to move, all because of what happened on a trip to a Wal-Mart in Cambridge.
“She’s very traumatized,” said Holly Townley, Zoe’s mother.
Last week, Zoe and her mom were grocery shopping.
“She was sitting in the child part of the cart, minding her own business,”said Holly.
When they walked down the frozen food section, they encountered the unexpected visitor.
“The bat flew down the pizza aisle, flew back at us, flew down and landed on her, attacking her and bit her leg,” said Holly.
Her left leg still has a mark from the bat bite. On her right leg, is a mark from the painful treatment that followed.
“She had a series of three shots for rabies,” said Holly.
Although doctors don’t know for sure whether or not the bat had rabies, they consider it rabid because bats don’t bite, Holy said.
The attack itself was traumatizing, but the treatment’s side effects are causing even more problems.
“She had a 103-degree temp, very achy, sore joints — almost as if she were a 90-year-old man,” said Holly.
After three trips to the emergency room, Holly asked Wal-Mart to help to pay medical bills, but she said they refused.
“I think Wal-Mart needs to step up and take responsibility for what happened to her. This was their store and this is their responsibility,” said Holly.
Holly is ready to take her claim to court, but, right now, her focus is on helping her daughter heal.
According to Holly, Wal-Mart claimed they aren’t responsible for any costs tied to that bat attack.
(Excerpt) Read more at minnesota.cbslocal.com ...
walmart policy is scorched earth, it keeps their overhead down and the slip and fall artists looking elsewhere, with an occasional unfortunate case like this. i’m not sure what walmart could do to batproof its indoor shopping area, specially when they have an outdoor garden center where shoppers can come and go from the store at will. a local menards gets lots of birds (and bugs) that way.
maybe some flying cats to go after those flying mice?
Most girls think bats are icky. This one will definitely think so!
Glad to hear it’s just a leg bite and they’ve taken the precautionary treatment.
stupid bat was probably from China
“Glad to hear it’s just a leg bite...”
I feel sorry for her because she has to get the rabies shots. Granted, what I know about those shots can fill a thimble and most of it is probably urban legend (like the shot has to be administered by the belly button and you have to get one a month for a period of time). That being said, my 5 year old freaks over a regular vaccine... I can’t imagine adding more shots.
Wiki: In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommend patients receive one dose of human rabies immunoglobulin (HRIG) and four doses of rabies vaccine over a fourteen-day period.[24] The immunoglobulin dose should not exceed 20 units per kilogram body weight. HRIG is very expensive and constitutes the vast majority of the cost of post-exposure treatment, ranging as high as several thousand dollars. As much as possible of this dose should be infiltrated around the bites, with the remainder being given by deep intramuscular injection at a site distant from the vaccination site.[25] The first dose of rabies vaccine is given as soon as possible after exposure, with additional doses on days three, seven and fourteen after the first.
That's nothing. I went to Walmart yesterday and was bitten by a zombie.
True story.
Walmart will be sued for millions....they’ll pay.
eek. poor kid.
I’m sure the lawyers are coming out of the woodwork to contact this woman.
WalMart should pay all of her medical bills and give her $100,000 and make it go away.
Thank you, Rawhide. I guess the “belly button” myth was truly a myth (unless the animal bit you by the naval). It certainly doesn’t sound like a box of chocolates for an adult.. much less a little girl. Granted, she needs the shots. As a Mom, I know the fear and tears of a child over a shot can be heartbreaking.
Ok, you’re the manager of the Wal-Mart and a lady walks up to you with a screaming kid. “Hey, my kid just got bit by a bat!” You say, “Oh, no, where is it?” She responds, “I don’t know, it flew away. But you’re responsible and have to pay. I’m going to the emergency room. Give me a thousand bucks to start.” C’mon. It’s like a slip and fall or any injury. You file a report with the manager and probably the police, for good measure. Then you file a claim with Wal-Mart. Then Wal-Mart talks with witnesses and checks the videotapes. They just don’t hand out the money. Remember, it’s the mother who’s telling both sides of the story. Think about it. If some lady knocked on your door with a crying kid and said she fell on your porch, would you say, “Oh, what a sweet little girl. Well, I’m obviously responsible. Just tell me what the bill is”?
I agree with this. This is not a frivolous claim...anyone could see that. Good faith pays in the long run and that is a "drop in the bucket" for the giant.
I worked as an unloader at Walmart 10 years ago, and it has all kinds of critter problems, especially rats and mice that come in on the trucks with the dog food. We’d also get an occasional snake with the delivery.
I would think the bat bited mark prove she is telling the truth.
“Wal-Mart Senior Manager for Media Relations Dianna Gee said the store has a claims process for incidents within their stores.”
Reading this it basically sounds like, as with any store, company, or even governing body, there is a procedure to follow when a liability incident, accident occurs and this is how liability claims are paid. It’s not that the bills won’t be paid, they will be paid by the insurance company not out of the till of the store where it occurred. With that said, it would probably be a wise public relations move for the individual store to send the child a comfort gift and a card from the management and employees of that particular store.
So, in other words, if a lady said her kid fell on your porch and the kid had a cut, you’d pull out your checkbook and ask, “How much?”
If Walmart makes her take it to court, legal fees, and pain and suffering damages will be the burden of bat infestation to investors.
Walmart is not what it used to be since the store changed itself to please Leftists in the hope of avoiding unionization and leftist local oppostition to building stores.
I have not been in a walmart for years.
Shame on you for insinuating this woman is putting her daughter through hell, just so she can scam WalMart! Shame on you!
..I remarked to my husband, but thought maybe they had flown in from the garden shop...(& maybe they had).....and didn't mention it to the store manager.
...but now the whole scene takes a more ominous note!!
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