False widow spiders shut two schools
TWO primary schools were forced to close yesterday after they became infested with false widow spiders.
Hundreds of pupils at The Osmani and Thomas Buxton Primary Schools in East London were sent home after the venomous creatures were discovered.
The spiders, which are often mistaken for the deadly black widow, can cause pain and swelling with their bites and in some cases severe allergic reactions.
Both schools, which are just a few hundred feet apart, will be closed and fumigated to kill off the spiders.
The cause of the outbreak is unkown and pest control teams are investigating how the spiders came to be there.
Tower Hamlets Council said it has no reports of any children being bitten.
The school buildings and grounds were yesterday being fumigated ‘as a matter of urgency’, a statement by the schools said.
It added: ‘The closure is essential to safely fumigate the nests and remove the eggs.
False widows, which are reportedly becoming more common in the UK, are named for their physical resemblance to the deadly black widow spider.
They were first recorded in Britain in Torquay, Devon, in 1879, and since have scuttled far from their heartlands of Devon, Dorset and Hampshire, and reached most of the country, including northern Scotland.