Man bitten by rattlesnake in Wal-Mart

A MAN IN Washington state has claimed that he reached down to pick up a stick lying in the gardening aisle of a Wal-Mart, only to realise that it was a rattlesnake – which then bit his hand.

Mica Craig says he was shopping in the outdoor garden department of a Clarkston store when he was bitten Saturday. The 47-year-old man says it latched onto his hand and that he screamed, shook loose the snake and stomped it to death.

The Lewiston Tribune in Idaho reports a bystander drove Craig to an emergency room in nearby Lewiston. Craig says he was treated with six bags of anti-venom and was told that his hand could be permanently disfigured.

He says doctors expect him to remain hospitalised until Tuesday.

Read: Man actually tries to smuggle snakes onto a plane