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About Me Member Antagonist DaGecko22/Male/Canada Recent Activity Deviant for 5 Years
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Journalistic incompetency

Thu Apr 9, 2009, 5:40 AM
So I just (seconds ago) heard a piece on the radio about a guy working at a grocery store who was bitten by a “banana spider”. He described as being as big as his hand, hairy, and with striped legs. He took it with him (after swatting it) to the hospital, was watched for symptoms, and eventually sent home with no harm done other than a likely unpleasant bite. He asked a friend with “twenty years experience” (which I naively assumed to mean someone with experience in tarantulas) about it, who stated that he had never seen a “spider” like that.

*sigh*

Is this how everyone feels when a topic of interest of theirs is reported on? Even not knowing any more details than what was reported in the brief, 2 minute segment I can point out a slew of problems.
-It was an effin tarantula! That's not to say it couldn't have been dangerous, there's a chance it was one of the two or three species with medically significant venom, or he could have been allergic, but that sort of thing should have been mentioned to avoid unnecessary villainization of the family.
-Their “expert” was a dude who worked in a grocery store for twenty years? What the fuck!
-How about mentioning that the reason he didn't suffer any affects was likely because it was a dry bite and no venom was injected? Tarantula bites may not be fatal in the majority of cases, but we don't need people thinking they're pleasant, either.
-The fact this was even on the radio at all. What about journalistic integrity? Can we get some real information instead of just regurgitating what some yokel's yelling?

Annnd with that out of the way, I'm going to get myself some coffee and breakfast, and come back here to do some research of my own. My initial thought when hearing about the striped legs was one of the Pokey species (Poecilotheria), but now that I'm thinking about it I think that they rarely do dry bites, and he sure as hell would have known if it had used any venom. On top of that, I'm pretty sure they're an Asian species... not the most likely source of N.A. Bananas. So, I'll have to look at some other options. (update: yup, Asian species)

*grumble grumble. Stupid CBC.*

Alright, having caffeinated myself and listened for a rerun of the story (there wasn't one), I've researched to my interest's end. Here's what I've found.

CBC apparently doesn't deem this news worth a second mention. Not only did they not repeat the story on the next hour, but there is no mention of it on their website, nor can I find it anywhere else online. If anyone else is interested in looking for it at a future date, the key terms are “banana, spider, Tim Campbell (sp on the name up in the air, it was just a radio bit)”. Maybe throwing bite in there would help, but I've given up for now.

As for species, I got a couple options before I got tired of searching. The point to take away, though, is that since it was in bananas, and bananas are typically a New World shipment, the tarantula was likely a new world species itself. New world tarantulas are rarely considerably venomous, and rely on their urticating hairs as primary defense. They don't even usually bite unless pressed.
Anywho, it could have been a few of the Acanthoscurria spp, Aphonopelma spp, or even Brachypelma spp, if the guy has a funny idea of what striped means. You may note that those are all fairly high up on the alphabet... well, like I said, I got bored.
Aphonopelma and Brachypelma both include some common species kept in the pet trade, and are far from dangerous to the average, non-allergic person. Acanthoscurria spp are slightly more nervous and prone to using their urticating hairs, which probably means more likely to bite, but still not deadly.
A good chunk of these species are found in South America, not Central, and I'm not sure if bananas come from there. Anyone have a passion about bananas? I don't much care. The point I'm trying to make is that of all the possible tarantulas that could have ridden in on a bunch of bananas, none of them are deadly.
Stories like this are what cause moronic city councilors to outlaw tarantulas. People hear this story and walk away thinking “wow, that dude was lucky he didn't die!” When they should be walking away, chuckling, thinking how lucky the guy was for seeing a wild Brachypelma spp or whatever (and, uh, y'know, lucky he wasn't envenomed. It'd still suck, fatal or not.)

I think I'm going to write CBC...

On a side note, I found this article while searching. Make sure you read the gray boxes below the original story for the updates :P

Oh... and... uh... I wrote a journal!

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Comments


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i think i saw you this summer,
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hi im jessica.[link]
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HarajukuJunkie,,,,
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That would have been me indeed.

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[link]
nice man skirt.
<3
haha i used to date bert.
weird huh?

Jessica

--
HarajukuJunkie,,,,
(lovesLife)

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