This is a scorpion. Here’s how it got to Yellowknife.

Roommates Véronique Keays-Dubé and Michele Balfour say they received a bonus item in the mail last week along with the bath mat they ordered from Walmart.

The surprise item was a few centimetres long with eight legs, two pincers and a segmented tail.

At around 6pm last Friday, Keays-Dubé returned home from a trip to the grocery store and Balfour picked up a package she had ordered online.

Balfour unwrapped the bath mat and installed it in the bathroom.

“All of a sudden, I hear a screech and I immediately run over. My eyes could not believe what I was seeing,” wrote Keays-Dubé in an email.

“I thought it was a worm at first,” she said, “and then I thought, ‘Oh frick, one of the dogs has worms.’ And then I see this thing with eight legs and pincers and I’m like, ‘Oh my god.'”

The roommates took swift action and captured the scorpion, placing it in a small, breathable container that they kept away from their dogs.

Keays-Dubé said people told them to squash the scorpion or flush it down the toilet.

Instead, they gave the creature a name – Tony – and built it a habitat, complete with some soil, leaves and a shot glass full of water.

Despite its threatening nature, they concluded the scorpion was still a living, breathing creature that could potentially be an endangered species.

A federal wildlife officer, Steve Allan, heard about the incident while listening to Mornings at the Cabin earlier this week. He asked Cabin Radio to put him in touch with Keays-Dubé.

Allan is one of two officers who oversee and investigate wildlife issues across the NWT and Nunavut, including everything from animal trafficking to protecting migratory birds and species at risk.

He said this is the first time he’s heard of someone accidentally receiving a scorpion in the mail.

Allan said his colleagues in cities with international airports deal with incidents like this more routinely, but it’s rare for him to see an exotic species in Yellowknife. (Scorpions are not native to northern Canada, though they are occasionally found farther south.)

While it’s unlikely that a scorpion would survive the cool climate of the NWT, he said, it could still harm surrounding ecosystems.

“Since they do not occur naturally, they pose threats to wildlife in many ways such as competing for available resources, changing predator-prey dynamics, or even introducing zoonosis – so wildlife diseases – to any of our native species,” said Allan.

The creature could also pose a threat to humans if handled incorrectly.

While Tony’s precise species has not yet been determined – nor whether or not it may be venomous – all scorpions have the ability to sting humans and prey.

Keays-Dubé relinquished custody of Tony to Allan earlier this week and Allan heard of Tony’s safe arrival in Edmonton on Thursday morning.

Tony will soon head to the Royal Alberta Museum, where it will be cared for by a curator with a large collection of insects, spiders and other invertebrates from Alberta and around the world.

“It’s pretty-much the best care you can probably get,” said Allan.

Keays-Dubé said she’d like to keep track of her new acquaintance.

“I said well, tell me where he goes… and his name better be Tony,” said Keays-Dubé.

Should you or someone you know receive any exotic animals or insects in the mail, you can report it to a federal wildlife officer via email.