In typical Australian fashion, people of the country are being asked to capture deadly venomous spiders and bring them in so experts can “milk” them.
WTF?!
Yes, the Australia Reptile Park is seeking “responsible adults” to safely capture funnel-web spiders, which are often located around decaying wood, logs, rockeries, and even more terrifyingly, in heaps of clothes of towels, with the most dangerous breed located around the eastern part of New South Wales and southeast Queensland.
Why the hell would they want you to do this? Well it’s all about their antivenom programme, which uses venom found in harmful spiders and snakes as an antidote to those bitten by one of the pesky critters, which can be fatal if untreated.
Symptoms of a bite include tingling around the mouth, twitching of the tongue, profuse salivating, watery eyes, sweating and muscle spasms, which could then lead to hypertension and an elevated heartbeat. If this is then combined with respiratory distress, the person bitten could then die, which has been found in 13 recorded cases so far.
So if you happen to see one anytime soon and want to help with important research rather than setting your entire house on fire, here’s a video explaining how to capture one safely.
