spider id please false widow????

[tcvarlh]

My Mam has a phobic dislike of all Arachnids, nothing new there! And this latest Media scare has set her off (again!) So I researched a bit about this 'Killer Spider' The truth is that Steatoda's (this Family of Spiders) will bite and yes it is painful, some of them can cause in susceptible folks a complaint by the name of Steatodism but the chap that died ostensibly from a False Widow bite is media hype, he was observed being bitten by a spider but the spider made off and has not been seen since, ergo, no confirmation of species. The Fellah died of heart attack. Wikipedia has some info which may set your mind at rest. I include a quote as food for thought : From Stuart Hine of the Natural History Museum. "The spider and alarming stories about it regularly feature in newspaper articles.
Hine stated, "Of course I also explain the great value of spiders and how rare the event of spider bite in the UK actually is. I also always explain that up to 12 people die from wasp/bee stings in the UK each year and we do not panic so much about wasps and bees – but this never makes it past editing."
There is so much the Media wants us to worry about, Swine Flu, Terrorist attack, Crooked Politicos etc, one little spider isn't truly a problem. Collect it up, drop it out of the window and let the birds have a chance.