Black widow stows away to Scotland in crate

Workers at a Scottish warehouse summoned animal rescuers to the business when they opened a crate from the United States and found a venomous black widow spider. Photo by skeeze/Pixabay.com

By Ben Hooper, UPI

Animal rescuers in Scotland said a venomous black widow spider was found to have stowed away in a crate shipped from the United States.

The Scottish SPCA said rescuers were summoned to a warehouse in a Portlethen, Aberdeenshire, business park on Thursday when workers opened up a crate shipped from the United States and discovered the black widow spider.

Mike Flynn, superintendent of the Scottish SPCA, said the spider was taken into custody by rescuers, but was later euthanized.

"Sadly the spider had to be put to sleep as there is nowhere in Scotland to safely rehome it, and we could not keep it in our center due to severe health and safety concerns," Flynn told Sky News.