On October 23, 16 live spiders were discovered in an international package by Shenzhen customs at a China Post international parcel center, according to Sznews.com.
The parcel containing these furry arthropods is said to have been shipped from the Czech Republic. According to customs workers, they were performing regular package inspections when they found something suspicious in one of the packages.
Upon further examination, these folks discovered the package contained eight petri dishes and 10 test tubes. A total of 48 spider egg sacks and 16 live spiders were found camping out in the science lab kit. The biggest of these spiders was said to be a 'monkey-faced spider,' with a diameter of 2 centimeters.
One of the spiders seized by customs workers. Image via shenzhen.sina.com.cn
China has stricts law on bringing live animals into the country, which is to protect its indigenous fauna and flora from foreign diseases and pests.
According to a regulation stipulated by the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ), all live animals, including mammals, birds, fish, amphibians, reptiles, insects and other invertebrates and animal genetic material are forbidden to be brought or mailed into China.
Cats and dogs are the exception to that rule, though there are still a range of laws regulating their passage into China.
Similar incidents have been reported in the past, with one such occurence taking place in April of last year at Futian Checkpoint, where customs seized around 1,100 live spiders and another case in 2016 in Hangzhou, where 90 live poisonous spiders sent from Germany were seized.
As for this instance, our eight-legged furry friends and the spider egg sacks, together with the petri dishes and test tubes, have been ‘disposed of’ by customs.
[Cover image via Pixabay]
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