After the floods, Australia could face another disaster: a tarantula invasion.
For several days, part of the State of New South Wales, including parts of Sydney, has suffered torrential rains.
The return of the sun on Wednesday does not mean the end of the problems, however.
The inhabitants of the region have indeed been the recipients of an "urgent" - and alarming - warning from the authorities: they must prepare for an influx of atrax robustus, the tarantula whose venom is the most violent in the world. .
"When you have this kind of humid conditions, which we see now, and you add warm temperatures, like those that are expected, you start to see the activity of male spiders increase dramatically," explains Daniel Rumsey, head of reptiles and snakes at the Australian Reptile Park.
Expelled from their habitat by bad weather, these critters seek refuge in drier areas.
"The risks that they enter your house therefore also increase", he continues, specifying that "male spiders move in numbers in search of female spiders to mate".
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No less than 13 human deaths due to a bite of this tarantula have been officially documented.
However, there have been no fatal attacks since a serum was developed in the early 1980s. The Australian Reptile Park, which has stocks of the serum, invites people "who feel the courage" to do so. capture tarantula and bring it to collection areas.
