World's biggest spider found in UK after accidental 5,000-mile trip in shipping container

The itsy not so bitsy spider

The invasion has arrived - but this time it's not aliens, nor is it giant rats but instead spiders that originally come from China. A venomous Huntsman spider was discovered in Hull, having travelled 5,000 miles via a cargo ship in a journey that took over a month. Upon discovering the arachnid, which can grow to have a 12-inch leg span, the RSPCA were swiftly informed. [caption id="attachment_318541" align="alignnone" width="1920"]

Huntsman are the biggest spiders in the world/Via Pixbay[/caption] The charity, which presumably rarely deals with such a creature, confirmed they had picked up the spider on February 18. A spokesman for the animal welfare charity said: "Insp Boyd collected this Huntsman spider. "He fancied a holiday so he hopped on a shipping container in China and ended up in Hull. "He gave staff quite a fright. "He's now having some R&R at a specialist rescue centre." This is not the first time a Huntsman spider has found its way to UK shores. Two years ago in Suffolk, staff opened a shipping container to once again find this giant arachnid. "He'd obviously been in the container for some time, without access to food and water, but he was still active and seemed to be OK," RSPCA inspector Jason Finch said. [caption id="attachment_318542" align="alignnone" width="2048"]

This is not the first time a huntsman spider has found its way to UK shores/Via UnSplash[/caption] Luckily, no one was injured during this month's spider encounter or the one from 2020. While the Huntsman's bite won't kill a healthy adult human, they can still cause excruciating pain and heart palpitations.