Australian Visitor Makes Unwelcome Appearance In UK

The Redback spider is one of Australia's deadliest.

The UK had some very unwelcome visitors from Australia this week in the form of deadly Australian Redback spiders.

Staff from Lancashire’s BAE base were horrified when they opened a crate and over a dozen of the Redbacks started crawling out. Many of them fled the building in terror.

The base was eventually sealed and experts brought in to contain the deadly spiders. The spider was easily identifiable by the red stripe running down its back. They are one of the most deadliest spiders in Australia so the shock for the BAE staff at Lancashire must have been quite severe.

According to one worker to spoke to The Sun newspaper: “It caused a major panic. Big, tough men were yelling with fear when they saw these things crawling all over the place. There were also loads of eggs in there. The big worry was one could have escaped.”

Although tiny, measuring around 1 centimetre long, there is nothing tiny about their bite. Their venom is highly toxic to humans, causing severe pain which then leads to chest pain, fever, hypertension and vomiting. In rare cases it can lead to seizures, coma and even respiratory failure. Once bitten by one of these guys you don’t easily forget it!

They are common all over Australia but are not known to be able to survive the UK climate, preferring hot, dry areas. However with the weather we’ve been having in the UK lately, any escapees could make themselves right at home! That’s one Australian visitor you really wouldn’t want in your house!

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