Tarantula fear spreads across Bengal districts

Panic has spread across villages in several districts of Bengal over suspected tarantula bites, with more than a dozen of victims reporting to different hospitals and numerous spiders killed, even as zoologists describe the fear as unfounded.

At least 30 incidents, that of suspected bites and sightings, have been reported in the past few weeks and a section of local media have added hype to the hysteria.

“Some tarantula species are found in Bengal but it is simply a myth that their bite could prove fatal. One can fall critically ill only due to secondary infections because of improper treatment. Panic causes more trouble for the victim than the bite itself,” said Kailash Chandra, director of Zoological Survey of India.

Irrespective of what experts say, people seem to be seeing tarantulas almost everywhere – the districts of Purulia, Birbhum, Burdwan, Howrah, East Midnapore, Murshidabad, North Dinajpur — and are on a spree to kill all spiders that are hairy and large.

It all started from West Midnapore district about three weeks ago, when villagers from Danton, Debra and Keshiary started reporting spider bites to local hospitals, complaining of pain, swelling and blackening of areas around the wounds and even respiratory problems. A number of palm-sized and even bigger, hairy spiders, mostly in black and gray, were handed over to local forest department staff, while many were killed on the spot.

However, in all cases, bite victims were released from hospitals in a day or two.

The scare in Kolkata’s southern suburbs spread to such extent that chairman of Rajpur Sonarpur municipality, Pallab Das, asked flower vendors to thoroughly search their consignments arriving from Midnapore.

This is not the first time that tarantula scare has gripped Bengal. Since around 2000, panic spread in parts of southwestern and some north Bengal districts, almost every alternate year, each time during summer, just ahead of the monsoon. According to arachnologist Sankar Talukdar, this is mating season for the eight-legged insects.