West Midnapore residents in grip of Tarantula scare

Kolkata: Recovery of some rare species of spider having similarities with Tarantula spider at Keshiari in West Midnapore on Sunday has created fear among residents.

The villagers of Keshiari got frightened after some furry spiders were spotted in their locality. It may be mentioned here earlier some people from adjacent villages were bitten by a rare species of spider and in these cases, many residents had to be hospitalised as the sting caused serious health problems.

Fear haunts the villagers after some furry spiders which looked similar to Tarantula were spotted.

Local people suspect that the spiders found in Keshiari belong to Tarantula species. They have informed the forest department officials, who are yet to confirm the species of the spiders.

Senior officials from the forest department in the district reportedly visited the spot on Sunday to assess the situation. They have started an investigation to identify the insect. The district administration suspects that the insects were coming from the adjacent areas. Even though, the forest department officials are yet to identify the insect that has created fear among Keshiari residents but they suspect that these spiders could be a poisonous.

It is suspected that the insects could be some rare kind of spider having similarity to Tarantula. There are 100 types of Tarantula in the world. The big-sized insects are found Africa, South America, some parts of Asia and Australia. Tarantula is also found in India. One such species is found in West Midnapore district, which are generally black in colour.

It can be stated here that many fell ill after being stung by furry spiders in Debra and some other parts of the district on various occasions in the past two years.

A local resident of Keshiari Swapan Mondal said the villagers spotted some black furry spiders almost looking like Tarantula spiders in their locality. They managed to catch them and put the insects inside a container.