Redbacks are coming!

A Redback spider has been found in an Iwakuni lumberyard. The poisonous spider was found in a batch of lumber brought in from Osaka about a month ago. It’s the first Redback discovered in the city outside the US Marine base.

The spiders, endemic to Australia, pack a powerful neurotoxin. While not deadly, being bitten by a redback causes a lot of pain that can last over 24 hours.

Redback spiders were first discovered in Japan back in the mid 1990s, in the port cities of Osaka and Kobe. Since then they have been popping up in various locations in western Japan and Kyushu. Of course, it’s always in the back of one’s mind that there may be more out there than authorities are letting on. Last year Fukuoka city authorities announced that over 8000 poisonous spiders had been destroyed over the previous 4 years. Captured in two of popular parks, the full extent of the problem was not made public for “fear of scaring the public”.

Source: Chugoku Shinbun