'His little legs were moving': Whitehorse woman finds live scorpion in her raspberries

A Whitehorse woman says she got a shock of a lifetime when she recently brought home a pack of raspberries from the grocery store.

Kelly Sanford said she noticed what looked like a "brown stem" in the raspberries and so she went to pick it out. It turned out to be a live scorpion.

"I felt a little, almost like a prick. I pulled it out and his little legs were moving," she said.

Sanford said she did what anyone would do if they pulled a scorpion out of a pack of raspberries. She dropped them on the floor.

She said it took a few minutes to realize the scorpion was real. Once she calmed herself down, she picked up the berries and the scorpion and threw all them into her compost bin.

Sanford texted her partner and told him what had happened. He asked her if she threw the scorpion out.

"I texted, 'yes I did.' And he texted, 'don't throw it out.'"

Sanford said the scorpion was then taken out of the compost bin and put into a container until they could decide what to do with it.

She took a few photos and posted them to social media. That's when the messages started to roll in, Sanford said.

"People have suggested taking him to the department of Environment. And a lot of people want him," she said. "Some people said to eat him, and throw him in my drinks."

She said she hasn't called the store where she bought the raspberries, or the distribution company to inquire how a scorpion found its way into the fruit and ultimately her kitchen.

She said she is still trying to figure out what to do with it. She's certain she doesn't want to eat it, or even keep it.

"I asked my daughter if she would want to keep him, and she said we should send it back to Mexico," Sanford said. "I said, 'well we can't, because Canada Post is on strike.'"

Sanford said now when she goes to the store, or prepares lunches for her kids, she'll be a bit more cautious.

"I had a moment of, 'I want to throw out absolutely everything,'" she said.

"Last night while I was making lunches, I did take a very long time. I was very nervous about all of the fruit so I'm not sure if we'll go maybe frozen for a little while. We'll have to see how it goes."

CBC News reached out to the Whitehorse grocery store for comment but nobody was available.

Likely a striped bark scorpion, expert says

Karlee Friesen, outreach manager at the Victoria Bug Zoo in B.C., said after seeing a picture of the arachnid that she believes it's a striped bark scorpion. The species is commonly found in parts of the southern U.S. and northern Mexico. 

Friesen said the striped bark scorpion isn't as dangerous as some other scorpion species but there are indications of how venomous it could be.

"If they have really tiny claws and a really big thick tail, that typically indicates it's on the more venomous side," Friesen said. "If they have large claws and a skinnier tail than their claws, then that means they're on the less-venomous side."

Friesen compared a sting from a striped bark scorpion to a hornet sting, saying neither would typically be life-threatening, but not enjoyable either.

For most people, a sting from a striped bark scorpion is painful and causes swelling or itching. But some people can have more intense reactions, such as cramping, shortness of breath, nausea and vomiting, or even anaphylactic shock.  

Friesen said if Sanford doesn't want to keep it around there are a few different options she could consider.

"If there is an organization that is equipped to take it in, that would totally work," she said. "We would take them here but we're a little far."

She said anyone who does gain possession of the scorpion should first look at municipal laws around owning a venomous animal. She said different jurisdictions have different rules.

"People do have them as pets here in Canada," she said. "They're kind of like fish in an aquarium, they're really cool to look at. You can make their enclosures really pretty but you don't necessarily touch them at all.

"There are some scorpions you can handle and it's totally safe to handle them, like flat rock scorpions or Asian Forest scorpions are typically OK. But I personally would not hold a bark scorpion of any kind."