Bat Bites Girl, 5, At Wal-Mart

A 5-year-old North Branch girl is recovering after an unusual run-in with a bat at a retail store. 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. “The bat flew down the pizza aisle, flew back at us, flew down and landed on her, attacking her and bit her leg.” 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. Although doctors don’t know for sure whether or not the bat had rabies, they consider it rabid because bats don’t bite. 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. More