Live and Must Die
Posted on Saturday 25th July 2009
Credit to Paul McCartney this one – and a return to the song references in post titles.
Thus far I’ve tried to avoid posting about the numerous highly dangerous and venomous animals in Australia. Partly this is to avoid concerning those of you in the UK, but also to avoid being labelled as a whingeing Pom.
However last night, events prompted a different reaction to an arachnoid visitor. When we lived in Leicester, I used to positively encourage spiders to settle in our house. The only action required was to move them to a ledge or cabinet top away from the reach of the cats. I wanted to cash in on their natural predatory behaviour and effectively used them for pest control, especially when house-flies became a blight in summer.
Unfortunately I have had to alter my treatment of spiders, and that usually means a swift and humane death. This may sound unnecessarily harsh, but there are many venomous species here. I am not too concerned for either Regan or myself, as metro hospitals typically carry stocks of antivenin. My worry is the result of one of the cats being attacked. Having not learnt to fear creepy-crawlies when young, they will play and attack anything smaller than themselves. Scaredy especially enjoys indulging his “hunter” side and has to be restrained frequently.
This may sound like an over-reaction, but what might be an unpleasant flu-like reaction in a bitten human, could easily be a fatal reaction in an smaller mammal. Consider, for example, the Redback (Latrodectus hasselti):
These are common in built-up areas and frequently seek shelter in houses in hot weather. They tend to like hiding in dark, secluded nooks and crannies and a characteristic cause of bite is a hand placed into such an area.
So while I don’t take any pleasure in dispatching what should be useful animals, but I can’t afford to take any risks with exposing the cats to a potentially fatal envenomation. And no, keeping a stock of antivenin in the fridge is not an option!
Rick, Rick, Rick….. are you trying to scare potential immigrants from our shores. Just because we have 7/12 of the worlds most dangerous creatures doesn’t mean they will get ya! And as for cats … meh!!