Dangerous foreign spiders have invaded Japan
Redbacks have infested the Osaka region and are drawing closer to the capital Tokyo, according to Japan Wildlife Research Centre official Toshio Kishimoto.
A dozen people have reportedly been bitten in Osaka prefecture alone, media reports say, including a six-year-old boy who was treated with antivenom in June, the first time the medication had been used in the country.
“Their poison is strong and they are particularly dangerous to people in weak physical condition, like children and the elderly,” Kishimoto told Agence France-Presse on Wednesday.
“Redbacks are becoming a common species in Japan. They are very numerous, especially in the western region, and are now often sighted in residential areas … Once the spiders spread, it’s hard to eliminate them.”
Redbacks were first spotted in Japan in 1995 around Osaka, a major port where, experts believe, they may have arrived in a container of Australian woodchips used to make paper in Japan.
It is said that the vile creatures are spreading across ever greater areas of Japan. Not even the residents of Japan’s most remote inaka villages will safe from their venomous attacks.
As seen at Japan Probe
