Man died from Tarantula bite

[Kumalo]

Hi again

and this is a letter of someone who is member of the ARCHE 90, which is responsible for the spiders after their owners death:

Hallo Philipp,

ich habe soeben mit Gabi Bayer gesprochen.

Gabi ist eine Frau, die sehr genau abwägt, was sie sagt, und sie ist entsetzt über die Verdrehung ihrer tatsächlich gemachten Äusserungen.
Diese sensationelle Aufbauscherei wurde nicht von Gabi verursacht, sondern von der BILD - Zeitung zum Zweck der Auflagensteigerung. Man kennt dies ja zur Genüge!
Frau Bayer hat lediglich ihre Meinung kund getan, dass Vogelspinnen und exotische Tiere überhaupt nur in fachkundige Hände gehören und nicht Jedermann ohne Schverstand solche Tiere erwerben und halten sollte.

Weiterhin hat sie nicht im Mindesten von "aggressiven und äußerst gefährlichen" Spinnen gesprochen.
Und die zwei "gefährlichen Schlangen" lagen friedlich im Glas - in Spiritus!
Soviel zur wahrheitsgetreuen Berichterstattung der BILD...!
Gabi Bayer wird mir Stichpunkte zum wirklichen Verlauf des Einsatzes übermitteln und ich werde daraus kurzfristig einen wirklichen Tatsachenbericht erstellen.
Bis dahin noch kurz die Info, dass keine freilaufenden Spinnen in der Wohnung vorgefunden wurden - weder "äußerst gefährliche" noch friedliche Exemplare.
Noch steht aber auch die Todesursache nicht fest - das Obduktionsergebnis liegt uns - falls schon bekannt - nicht vor!
Und nun BILD sich jeder seine Meinung...

LG Manfred


short translation:

Hi Philipp:

I just talked to Gabi Bauer. She is a person who really thinks twice before givin a statement and she is really upset about what the newspaper made out of her words.
This was made by the BILD ( newspaper ) to increase the number of their sold papers. [...]
The only thing Gaby Bauer said is that on her opinion exotic animals only belong into the hands of experienced people.


Furthermore she never mentioned " dangerous or agressive " Spiders and the two " dangerous snakes " were found in an alcohol filled bottle.
[...]
I will present an article of the true circumstances soon but one can say already now that there was NO free crawling spider found in this room.

But the real circumstances of the death are also still unknown.

greetings,
manfred



I will update you when I get more information about this.
Greetings,
Philipp Samadi

[burnpile]

A man, with over 40 terreriams filled with potentially poisonous tarantulas in his home, had not been seen lately. A concerned friend called the police, and he was found dead yesterday among his terrariums.

Tucholsky Street,Tuesday 10:30 AM: The police guard the door to number 19, while a members of a team of the society for the prevention of cruelty to animals named "Ark 90" continue to come out of the second floor, carrying terraium after terrarium filled with different spiders. Inside the dwelling, the man lies poisioned and starting to turn greenish. That sounds like a spider bite, but a lock is put on the speculations. "We will wait for the outcome of further investigations", is quietly said. The animal protection coworkers estimate that the man has been dead in his home for about a week. The police will be able to confirm this later.

Before the corpse can be removed, an expert must search both the body and dwelling for the possibility of other animals. After a while the animal control officer organizes a collecting point for the many "pets". Gabi Bayer of the animal protection organization "ark 90" doesn't want them, as several of the animals are 'hot'.

The police have handed the case over to the public prosecutor's office, who has concluded that both a spider bite and another pathogen are responsible for the mans death.

Someone please check my translation, in case I'm describing something wrong in English.

[Crotalus]

Incredible. I rather believe Himmler is alive before that load of crap in The Sun... :-)
Turned greenish.. well humans have a tendency to get miscolored in death..

/Lelle

[ithuriel]

think your newspapers are bad , you want to try reading some of the english rags. some are quite famous now , they had them on the simpsons the sun and the mirror. the best has to be the daily sport though , jesus , they must just type whatever comes into their heads
me , i only buy them for the sports pages and watch t.v. news instead

[deifiler]

Yeah... Yet more misinformed sources to add to the 'pyres' of detrimental media

Also the 'recent' issue of the Birmingham guy leaving spiders in his loft...


Ho Hum... I was due to do an interview thing with a local (small though) newspaper about my spiders and other stuff, I guess I'll have to wait till this vile cloud dissipates though

[Ryan Bridgman]

Adding to my earlier post about P.Regalis and A.Seemanni having led to fatal bites, in the case of the Regalis the victim succumbed to the toxins themselves (i.e. they were potent enough to kill the guy in India who did not have access to medical facilities - he died 3 days after envenomation) and in the case of the Seemanni the victim died of anaphylasis (sp.) which is basically a severe allergic reaction which you can get from a bee sting or even eating peanuts. The girl in Indonesia died from an unknown T - but as there are so many as yet undocumented T's out there in remote regions (the girl died in Borneo) I guess there is a decent chance that some of the Asian species will have highly significant venom.

[Code Monkey]

Originally posted by Ryan Bridgman
Adding to my earlier post about P.Regalis and A.Seemanni having led to fatal bites, in the case of the Regalis the victim succumbed to the toxins themselves (i.e. they were potent enough to kill the guy in India who did not have access to medical facilities - he died 3 days after envenomation) and in the case of the Seemanni the victim died of anaphylasis (sp.) which is basically a severe allergic reaction which you can get from a bee sting or even eating peanuts. The girl in Indonesia died from an unknown T - but as there are so many as yet undocumented T's out there in remote regions (the girl died in Borneo) I guess there is a decent chance that some of the Asian species will have highly significant venom.

Without a citation these reports are nothing but hearsay. I don't suppose you actually have a peer reviewed source for these or is just the entomologist contact? Because not wanting to sound too pissy, but if you're going to try and reverse established fact, you'd better have more than a second hand report.

[burnpile]

I was informed of my mangling of Gabi Bayer's name in my translation. No harm was meant, and apologies to Ms. Bayer.

[burnpile]

Originally posted by ithuriel
think your newspapers are bad , you want to try reading some of the english rags. some are quite famous now , they had them on the simpsons the sun and the mirror. the best has to be the daily sport though , jesus , they must just type whatever comes into their heads
me , i only buy them for the sports pages and watch t.v. news instead

Come now, they have also had some greaqt stories and pictures of the Spice Girls over the years

[gothmog]

Hi All, first post here

Been following this silly story and just spotted it on the Washington Times website.

The Sun is one thing but isn't the Washington Times supposed to be a proper newspaper?

-- Jon

[wsimms]

Originally posted by Ryan Bridgman
According to one of the entomologists from the London Natural History Museum the only documented deaths hrom Tarantula bites have been from P. Regalis and quite worryingly, A.Seemanni. A girl died in Indonesia from an unidentified T bite.

An entomologist holding himself out as an authority on medical consequences of tarantula envenomation is not a reliable source.

A) That would be the equivalent of me saying that because I am a pathologist who owns T's, I am an expert on taxonomy (I'm not).
and
B) Spiders ain't insects, so unless this guy is an arachnologist, he's not even a qualified expert in that regard.

As I have stated ad nauseum, there are no medically documented instances of fatality from tarantula bites, either from direct effects of the venom itself or from secondary causes such as anaphylaxis, infection, etc. Remember, at one time people were certain that the dreaded "Wolf Peach" was a highly poisonous plant until somebody had the courage to disregard all the heresay and misinformation and eat one. Now we make ketchup out 'em...

W

[burnpile]

Originally posted by gothmog
Hi All, first post here

Been following this silly story and just spotted it on the Washington Times website.

The Sun is one thing but isn't the Washington Times supposed to be a proper newspaper?

-- Jon

There's 2 papers in DC, the Times and the Post. The Times has been know to have a bit of sensationalism in them. The Post, OTOH, would only print this story if they could somehow prove the "deadly" tarantulas and geckos were Democrats, Libertarians, or Green Party Members

[laila]

"After a while the animal control officer organizes a collecting point for the many "pets". Gabi Bayer of the animal protection organization "ark 90" doesn't want them, as several of the animals are 'hot'."

I want them!!!!!

[brispofan31]

There was a University study done a few years ago that showed that tarantula venom has evolved to be rodent specific, therefore, non fatal to humans. The only arachnids with venom that is potentially fatal to humans are the red back and the funnel web both of which are found in Australia and have antivenoms.

[Professor T]

"Spiders were running all over him," said a police spokesman.

"They were coming out of his nose and mouth. Larger pieces of flesh had been torn off by the lizards and were taken back to the webs of tarantulas and other bird-eating spiders.

"There were open cages and terrariums everywhere -- all bathed in a weird green light. It was horrible."

This makes the movie Eight Legged Freaks! sound like a documentary. =D

To me, that just about ends any debate on validity or reliability on this story.

PS- Did your hear the one about the spider species that lives under toilet seats and bites people on the arse when they take a squat? Its true!