Fires, floods, now funnel-web spiders: Australia facing arachnid boom | The Biblical hits keep coming for weather-ravaged Australia

The Australian Reptile Park issued a warning on Tuesday that the deadly funnel-web spider population is poised to spike, amid ideal conditions for the start of its mating season.

“Because of the recent rain and now the hot days we are experiencing, funnel-web spiders will start moving around,” park spokesperson Daniel Rumsey said in a Facebook video post.

“Funnel-web spiders potentially are one of the most dangerous spiders on the planet, in terms of a bite toward a human.”

The spider surge comes in the middle of a nightmare summer for Australia. The country has seen its worst wildfire season in decades, with dozens dead, thousands of homes destroyed and millions of animals wiped out by blazes in the nation’s southeast

[link to globalnews.ca (secure)]