Australia wildlife park urges people to catch deadly spiders
SYDNEY // An Australian zookeeper has urged people to catch and donate deadly funnel-web spiders to help replenish stocks of antidote that are running low after a spate of spider bites.
The Australian reptile park – the country’s only supplier of funnel-web venom to antidote producers – relies on the public to hand in spiders, which are milked for the venom used to produce an antidote.
The anti-venom programme is now at risk after too few spiders were donated last year, and a recent heatwave led to more spider activity and bites, the park’s general manager, Tim Faulkner, said yesterday. “We rely on community support to keep this programme alive,” Mr Faulkner said. “We have tried to catch enough spiders ourselves and just can’t.” Funnel- web spiders live throughout south-east Australia, but the only known killer is the Sydney funnel-web spider, found in the Sydney region and as far north as Newcastle and south to Illawarra, the park said.
“The large fangs and acidic venom make the bite very painful,” its website said, noting that a major bite can cause death within an hour if left untreated.
After milking the spiders, the park delivers the venom to a division of the blood plasma and vaccine maker CSL, which converts it into the life-saving anti- dote. Australia has had two funnel- web spider attacks in two weeks, media have said, one of them involving a woman bitten by a spider while she was asleep.
Despite the terrifying reputation of Australian wildlife, no one has died from the bite of a funnel-web spider since the anti-venom programme began in 1981.
Catching venomous spiders is safe as long precautions are followed, Mr Faulkner said.
“With an appropriate jar and a wooden spoon, you can flick the spider into the jar so easily,” he said.
“We’ve been doing this for 35 years and no one’s been hurt.”
A major bite can cause death within an hour if left untreated.