An Australian man’s anguished pleas for a spider‘s death triggered a police response after passersby alerted authorities to what they feared might be a violent domestic disturbance.
People walking by a house in Wanneroo, north of Perth, on Wednesday reported hearing a man repeatedly yelling “Why don’t you die?” along with the sound of a screaming child, the West Australian reported.
Police arrived at the scene to find that the man did indeed harbour intentions to inflict bodily harm — on an eight-legged intruder.
“Police spoke with all parties who advised that husband had only been trying to kill a spider (has serious fear of spiders), apologized for inconvenience to police,” read a police communications log posted to the Wanneroo Police Twitter account before being deleted, the BBC reported.
“No injuries sighted (except to spider),” the police log assured.
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It’s not the first time that death threats targeted at spiders have prompted a frenzied police response in Australia.
In 2015, police were called to a home in Sydney after people reported hearing a man yelling “I’m going to kill you, you’re dead! Die! Die!” followed by what sounded like a woman’s screams, as well as the sounds of furniture being thrown around, the Sydney Morning Herald reported at the time.
The screams, however, belonged to the distressed man — police found him alone at home, scrambling about and knocking down furniture while trying to chase down and neutralize a spider with a can of bug spray.
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Australia has the dubious distinction of having one of the world’s highest spider-to-human ratios.
Biologists have previously warned that the country’s summer heatwave means people are more likely to find spiders in their homes.
— With a file from Reuters
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