Australians should stop milking spiders

[Marue]

Heard that they were urging people to catch more spiders to milk for anti venom, the average spider gets milked 100 times before being killed!

It just seems very inhumane to do that these days, surely with modern technology they should synthesise this?

I think it all sounds like a good thing then. Anti-venom is obviously needed and the animals aren't being mistreated. I can't see the problem at all.

massive LOLs at spider welfare angst

I bet you need a very low stool.

Am I the only one now having 'incy wincy spider' going through my head?

massive LOLs at spider welfare angst

As is so often said, only on MN.
Perhaps the poor spider is eating too much sugar and salt too?

Let's put it like this: if we weren't encouraged to trap the fecking funnel-webs to take to the centres where their venom is extracted and used to make anti-venom, their lives would be a whole lot shorter as we'd just kill them on sight, same as we do with the redbacks and white tails.

I really couldn't give a shiny shit about the amount they're milked for venom.

Maybe true for redbacks which are not nearly so deadly. Funnel webs can kill within hours though. I think deaths were reasonably rare before antivenom was introduced, but not unknown. And even if you don't die, a bite can still make you very unwell as the venom attacks the heart muscle.

Funnily enough, there have been no deaths in NSW since antivenom was introduced.

Sorry - that was in response to psychotropic.

Thanks Jassy

The "natural environment" captivity. Doesn't wash with me, imagine aliens captured humans and put them in a natural environment of a tiny barret house, sam and ed whatever playing in the background on loop while this morning was constantly on. That would be comparable to water boarding IMO!

They aren't sentient humans, they're fucking spiders.

Apparently the last recorded death due to spider bite in Oz was 1979 - entirely due to the anti-venoms that have been produced. Redback was introduced in 1956 and funnel-web in 1980, these are the only 2 spider types that were known to have caused deaths. 2000 people are bitten by redbacks a year and over 100 people have had the funnel-web anti-venom since 1980. Its impossible to be able to tell what bit you unless you actually catch the spider and spider bites are non-notifiable so nobody really knows the true figures.

Wolf and whitetails give a very nasty bite that can cause skin necrosis (basically flesh eating venom). Won't kill you but you might lose your leg.

Apparently a lot of bites are "blanks" where no venom is introduced.

australianmuseum.net.au/spider-facts

Wa?

Nope... you lost me there, Marue! Far too daft for serious consideration!

Would you like to be locked up in a lab for months while giants milked you?

Cows do it. They are locked into cow parlours and milked twice daily. Nobody makes a fuss about that.

If you think how many millions of those specific spiders there are, to get probably a relatively small amount of venom which could save lives, seems worth it to me.

i have worked in a laboratory that "milks" spiders and the answer is no, it doesnt hurt the spider because they are aneathetised, with CO2 so they are totally unaware - i mean, lets face it, you'd be slightly mad to try and milk an angry spider whilst it is awake.

Venom is an amazing resource and it has a wide range of potential uses and is an up until very recently untapped resource for molecules to use in the fight against cancer, pain and many neurological conditions. So venom is useful for much much more than just anti-venom (which is pretty important if you live ina country where a spider bite may well kill you).

At present there are no restrictions on what you can do to a spider as it is an invertebrate and they are not covered by welfare legislation but i can tell you that the place where i worked (as a volunteer) put the welfare of the spiders absolutely first and has won awards for this, it is also campaigning to get stricter legislation in place.

The spiders here live a far better life than many pet spiders, sold in any pet shops. They have the correct environmental needs in place as much as is practical and they go about their day to day life, being spiders, and sometimes they are "milked". It is not in the company interest to over milk these creatures so they don't. Their venom is used for research purposes rather than anti-venom and they often work with species for which anti-venom hasn't been developed because they are mentalists so the work isn't without risk. It does however have amazing potential benefits.

A spider's needs are pretty easy to provide for, somewhere to hide, food and water - much less so than mammals and their sentience is at a lower level (in my unqualified opinion), however I feel that legislation to ensure the welfare of these wonderful creatures is hugely important.

I speak as someone who up until two years ago would have shreiked and jumped on a chair if a spider entered the room.

It's natural environment or death though isn't it? I don't kill spiders and insects because I'm in England and they can't hurt me. If they could kill me then of course I would kill them first. And I would definitely want access to anti venom if I was bitten.

They are still living creatures though and I wouldn't want them mistreated while they are alive. Lol away.

Cows do it. They are locked into cow parlours and milked twice daily. Nobody makes a fuss about that. I do! I'm. Egan

At present there are no restrictions on what you can do to a spider as it is an invertebrate and they are not covered by welfare legislation but i can tell you that the place where i worked (as a volunteer) put the welfare of the spiders absolutely first and has won awards for this, it is also campaigning to get stricter legislation in place.

I really appreciate the time and info in your post lem. Its nice to hear that some are looking out for the welfare of non cute animals :)

It is perfectly reasonable for you to think this way OP as long as you are willing to volunteer for medical research into synthetic antidotes. That does mean taking the testing from the early stages where the drug hasn't been tested for side effects, not at the latter end when they're pretty sure it's safe, which is when they usually use human volunteers.

You'll feel differently when the invertebrates take over the world and you're faced with a herd of spiders scuttling towards you, pulling on eight pairs of little rubber gloves with a determined look in their eyes.
Heed my warning!

I see that you're vegan op, which is good. There is far more cruelty in the meat industry than spider milking, and anti venom is necessary, whereas meat is not.

murphys - didn't Hermione steal Boomslang skin to make the Polyjuice Potion?

Sorry murphys - just read ALL your message. Apologies.