We all know that home improvement can be dangerous if you don’t know what you’re doing. This week, however, a customer at a Lowe’s home improvement store in North Carolina was bitten by a poisonous snake. When the headline “Copperhead Snake Bites Lowes Customer” came across my desk I almost fell out of my chair! As it turns out, the poisonous Copperhead snake was hiding in a tree in the Lowe’s garden center and apparently bit the customer as they were shopping.
Editor’s Note: Check out our Lowes vs Home Depot article for our take on these two behemoth home improvement stores.
Copperhead Snake Bites Lowes Customer
When you see a headline like that, your mind starts wondering what happened. The truth is—there aren’t too many details, but according to an AP article, a spokeswoman for Lowe’s Companies Inc. emailed them that “a customer was bitten in the outdoor lawn and garden center Monday at a store northwest of Charlotte.”
The East Lincoln Fire Department had the incident up on the Facebook page, but has since (as far as we can tell) deleted it—but not before it went rather viral. They also identified the snake as a copperhead:
We don’t know the name of the customer who was bit or whether they suffered any serious effects, but knowing what we know about snakes they are more than likely expected to have a full recovery. According to the quoted spokeswoman for Lowe’s, the employees dialed 911 and began to search other trees for snakes (they found none). A pest control company was called in to search for any additional snakes.
This is one of those things that simply happens from time to time. Our hope is that it doesn’t go any further (It’s certainly not Lowe’s fault as far as we can tell). It is a good lesson, however, that you should always look before you reach…and a great object lesson for kids the next time you tell them to “shop with their eyes and not their hands!”
So, don’t be afraid to go to Lowe’s this week—or any other home improvement or garden store—just look before you touch!
