Urgent warning for ‘plague’ of deadly spiders as they rise from the earth to escape floodwaters
- Australian Reptile Park issued urgent warning of a funnel web spider ‘plague’
- Combination of rain, floods and humidity ‘the perfect storm for a spider boom’
- Spiders could be about to enter greater Sydney homes in record numbers
Sydney’s torrential rains and heartbreaking flooding looks set to create another terrifying ripple – thousands of desperate funnel web spiders entering houses.
The Australian Reptile Park says the combination of record flooding and humidity was ‘the perfect storm’ to set off a spider boom ‘in coming days’.
On Wednesday it issued an urgent warning about what it called a incoming funnel-web spider plague’, adding that this was a ‘completely different’ situation to previous warnings.
Experts says the combination of flooding and humidity is ‘the perfect storm’ to create a spider plague in Sydney
‘Under normal circumstances, the humidity that is generated from warm weather after a rain event would see an increase in activity amongst funnel-webs. This situation is completely different,’ Australian Reptile Park Director, Tim Faulkner warned.
‘Not only are we seeing increased movement due to humidity, but we’re already seeing a plague of ground-dwelling spiders searching for higher ground, out of the floodwaters.’
‘With the incredible flooding that we’ve experienced across the Greater Sydney area, they have been forced out of their habitat and are seeking refuge in dryer areas.
‘Unfortunately, this could mean that they’ll be finding their way into residential homes very shortly.’
A clip posted to Tik Tok showed spiders climbing fences to escape rising floodwaters
But the Australian Reptile Park – which ‘milks’ funnel web spiders to create antivenom – also called on competent Sydneysiders to try and catch the spiders.
‘If you feel safe enough to do so, you can contribute to the Australian Reptile Park’s lifesaving spider antivenom program, Mr Faulkner said.
‘The Australian Reptile Park is encouraging responsible adults to catch wandering Sydney funnel-web spiders safely and asking for any collected spiders to be brought to the Park or one of the participating drop off locations to contribute to the lifesaving antivenom program.’
Details about drop off locations and how to catch a funnel-web can be found here.
Jake Meney, a ‘spider keeper’ with the Australian Reptile Park demonstrates how to safely catch a funnel web spider
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