Australian Reptile Park keepers say a giant funnel web spider found in Newcastle is the ‘biggest they’ve ever seen.’
Given the name Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, the spider will be a part of a milking program at the park which produces anti-venom to save hundreds of lives.
The recent wet weather followed by intense heat has provided the perfect conditions for the species to thrive.
The spider was handed in to the John Hunter Hospital, which is one of the drop-off points for the program.
Australian Reptile Park Director Liz Gabriel said, “He is unusually large and more spiders like him will only result in more lives being saved due to the huge amount of venom they can produce.”
“People can bring any collected spiders to the Reptile Park itself. However, if they can’t get to us, we have drop off zones around Sydney, the Central Coast and Newcastle.”
