Deadly line in desktop amusement

Press, 26 October 1989, Page 1

Deadly line in desktop amusement

By NIGEL MALTHUS On a desk in the office of a shipping container storage firm in Woolston live two Australian redback spiders. The spiders, one of each sex judging by their relative sizes, are kept in separate plastic cups, where they are occasionally fed flies. ■ They are there because, in the Experience of the yard supervisor, Mr Ross Fraser, the Ministry of Agriculture no longer gives a high priority to eradicating the unwelcome visitors. Mr Fraser said that several years ago the discovery of a . redback at a port was enough to .'close the wharf while the cargo ' was fumigated. With more recent finds he said that officers had killed the spiders, or simply referred him to commercial fumigators.

But when his latest pets turned up in a container a few weeks ago, the Ministry told him redbacks were now established in New Zealand and referred him to the Health Department “They weren’t very interested in it either,” he said.

Because the firm dealt only in the storage and repair of empty containers, Mr Fraser knew only that the container had come from Australia, not what cargo it contained.

One of the spiders was found about three weeks ago in a damaged container. The second was spotted about a week later in a reinspection. Mr Fraser said he was worried about children who played in the container yard at week-ends.

Mr John Burton, manager of M.A.F. Quarantine Services in Christchurch, was surprised to

hear that the find had been treated lightly. Although redbacks were now believed to be established in parts of New Zealand, the Ministry wanted to keep the numbers down, he said. Australia has recorded 13 fatalities from redback poisoning. New Zealand has yet to record even a bite.

The redback is a close relative of the New Zealand katipo. The female, about 10mm long, the bite of which is dangerous, has a broad red stripe down the back and a red hour-glass marking on the underside. “I don’t think anyone should keep them as pets. Certainly we’d prefer them destroyed,” said Mr Burton. . . Quarantine staff would visit the office this morning.