People tend to have phobias of some sort or another but one of the most common is a fear of spiders, known as arachnophobia. I’ll be the first one to admit that I get a little shaken anytime one of those creepy little arachnids passes by my way as well.
Although we may see a spider from time to time in our home or travels, they are probably nothing compared to the Huntsman spider from Australia. They are absolutely humongous! Most of us would do well just to stay away from them.
Not all of us feel that way, including Barnyard Betty’s Rescue. The animal sanctuary in Queensland rescues animals of all types and Betty posted a picture to prove it. That picture has now gone viral. It was her rescuing a Huntsman spider that was as big as a dinner plate! She said:
“Yes, she is very real and very large and not photoshopped.”
“She was a beautiful, calm spider, not aggressive in any way and like most spiders she just wanted to go about her business eating bugs and living in peace.
“She didn’t or doesn’t need to be killed! Poor spiders are so misunderstood!”
Beautiful Charlotte the spider, one of my best rescues yet :-)To answer some of your questions:She is a Huntsman…
Posted by Barnyard Betty's Rescue on Monday, October 19, 2015
The picture was taken in 2015 when she found the spider in an old farmhouse. She talked about how she came across ‘Charlotte’ as she affectionately named it.
“The kids came running out of the house yelling to me that there was a spider,” Betty told CBS News. “Their mother wanted to kill it. I said ‘No, don’t kill; I’ll remove it!’”
Typically, Betty would have trapped the arachnid under a glass and slid a piece of paper under it. Obviously, this encounter called for a different type of rescue.
Posted by Barnyard Betty's Rescue on Monday, October 19, 2015
“She was the size of a dinner plate,” said Betty. “So, I grabbed an old broom and gently got her to climb onto the broom head.”
It’s easy to see from the pictures that Betty was not exaggerating about the size of the spider.
Some people may have killed the Huntsman but Betty decided relocation was a better option. She took her out to an old shed that would provide a safe atmosphere for the spider.
When the pictures appeared on Barnyard Betty’s Rescue’s Facebook page, they went viral and thousands of people reacted in some way or another. That species of spider also became a trending topic and plenty of other videos and pictures were being shown online.
For example, check out this Huntsman spider carrying a dead mouse up the side of a refrigerator!
Some people may consider spiders to be creepy but Huntsman spiders are not going to hurt anyone. They get big, with some being as long as 12 inches from the tip of one leg to the tip of another.
As far as Betty is concerned, Charlotte is a ‘beautiful’ creature. As for me, I won’t be looking forward to running into any large spiders anytime soon.