Posted on 08/31/2013 4:22:53 PM PDT by Morgana
FULL TITLE: How FOUR cops rushed to kill spider in wheelchair-bound teen's home after she called 911 fearing it could have killed her
Police in Portland, Oregon, received an unusual call earlier this month when a teenager phoned requesting assistance to deal with a ‘massive’ spider.
The caller, Makenna Sewell, wasn’t a prankster or someone with an extreme phobia of spiders, but instead suffers from muscular dystrophy and is wheelchair-bound.
She believed the spider was a brown recluse, a species with venom so toxic that it could have been deadly for her compromised immune system.
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Sewell was home alone on August 16 when she saw the creature, which she described as being about three inches across.
Just a few days prior, her mom Shawnda had been bitten by a spider on the back of her leg during the night, which had resulted in a nasty wound and a trip to the emergency room.
Initially Sewell tried to call her mother, her father, the friends her parents were with, her own friends and two neighbors.
When she couldn’t reach anyone, Sewell decided to call the non-emergency police hotline as a last resort.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
“99 times out of 100, it isn’t a brown recluse north of its normal range.”
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Bugs and spiders migrate/hitchhike by being in boxes that are shipped or moved across the country.
Since the recluse is famous for being indoors, hiding in boxes and out of site, that is why they are spreading so rapidly.
They were originally found only in the southwest US.
I would not be surprised to see one anywhere.
I got bit on my shoulder one night while I was asleep. Don’t know by what. Went to the doc. There was a red ring about the size of a 50 cent piece, with two of what we thought were scabs inside it. Doc said, “Must not have been a Recluse, cuz you’re still alive.” Went home and took off my shirt. The two “scabs” sloughed off. They were necrotized skin. I could see three bites. The fangs were about 1/8” apart. I still have a scar, 4 months later! I live between Cleveland and Akron.
If there’s one, there’s a nest and many more which could develop and infest. An etymologist and fumigation company might be a consideration.
Brown Recluse transmit necrosis, and surgery is often required to remove dying tissue.
Click thru the 8 pics here, and see what it looks like:
http://urbanlegends.about.com/od/spiders/ss/brown_recluse_spider_bite.htm
“Yea but would a wolf spider put a person in the hospital like it did her Ma?”
Yes, but not because of envenomation. Wolf spiders inflict “dirty”, bacteria-laden bites. Injecting large amounts of bacteria under the skin can cause septic infections that can become life-threatening if not treated promptly.
No spider is welcome in my house. Ever.
I love Wolf Spiders. They look nasty as heck, but they can’t hurt us, in fact they’re beneficial. I had one as a “pet” on my front porch for a year or two. He liked to hang on our screen door and scare the carp out of sales people.
In my book, a three inch spider calls for standoff weaponry, preferably nuclear.
LOL... okay, point for your side... :)
This is the sweetest story I have read in a long while. In this day & age, it takes a measure of innocence & trust to call the police because of a spider and the cops did what cops do—Protect and Serve.
A few years back they had a massive infestation of brown recluses in some of the state government buildings in Indianapolis.
Re your post 54 and others concerned with brown recluse spiders.
Those guys truly are serious business, folks. My sister, who lives in Alabama, was bitten by one and her entire left leg was horribly swollen. Just as the doctors had determined that they would have to remove her leg near the hip to save her life, one came up with a way to stop the poison. He thereby saved her leg from amputation.
She is fine now but it was touch-and-go for a while there.
The worst spider bite I ever had was from one of those.
i don’t think they’re anywhere near that big, either
NC is right on the edge of its normal range and partially included in fact so that’s not surprising at all. Oregon is nowhere near the normal range.
interesting.
“Brown Recluse transmit necrosis, and surgery is often required to remove dying tissue.”
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Yes, I should have been more specific. Unlike most poisonous
spiders that inject nurotoxins, The recluse bite infects the skin around the bite, and goes undiagnosed. The wound, if not treated, spreads rapidly.
I had a girlfriend in west Tennessee that had a recluse bite
and required cortisone injections.
They are as much, or more, prolific in west Tennessee then any other obnoxious spider. An old school building that I bought was full of them.
Anyone that has an unusual boil or blister, usually on the hand, that caves in after a day or so should seek immediate treatment.
While they were once limited to the southwest, the spider can now be anywhere in the US, due to their frequent hiding in boxes.
I used to date a little cutie who had a round circular scar about the size of a dime. It was about an inch below her right buttock. She said it was from a spider bite when she was a little girl. They lived in SE Texas at the time.
I don’t think she ever told me what kind of spider.
I had one bite my wrist several years ago. In the morning it was very itchy. By the afternoon it was swollen and painful. Wife was telling me to go the ER. I said ‘it’s just a flesh wound.’ An hour later I saw the red line up my arm past my elbow. I went to the ER. A simple antibiotic cured it. I had a red mark for 3+ years.
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