Australia: Catching deadly funnel-web spiders to save lives

This an Australian funnel-web spider, whose bites can be deadly.
The Australian Reptile Park is now asking members of the community to catch the spiders and deliver them to the park to be milked.
“Now what we do is gently stroke the spider, or aggravate it a little bit. What happens there, the venom accumulates on the end of the fangs in little drops. We don’t want it to shake, and shake off that venom. But from here, we touch the end of the fangs with the glass pipette and the venom sucks up, and that’s it, right there,” said Tim Faulkner (park manager)
This is the only way to produce the necessary antidote to fill up the country’s stock after a heatwave led to a higher than usual rate of spider bites in recent weeks.

The Australian Reptile Park has been the country’s sole supplier of funnel-web venom to antidote producers since 1981
Despite the terrifying reputation of Australian wildlife, nobody has died from a funnel-web bite since the anti-venom programme began in 1981.

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