'Oh my goodness, it's a tarantula': 2 live arachnids rescued at Edmonton airport
Two live tarantulas are now being housed at the Royal Alberta Museum after being discovered hidden in a toy plane and a plastic container at the Edmonton International Airport.
The spiders were found by the Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) on two separate occasions, in packages from Hong Kong.
Longtime border services officer Iris Zelter found both arachnids.
"I don't mind spiders as long as they are where they belong, I thought they were something else when I was unwrapping it," she told CTV News Edmonton on Monday.
CBSA agent Iris Zelter. (CTV News Edmonton)
In May, she found the first tarantula, a male, hidden in a plastic container after noticing some irregularities with the package from Hong Kong.
"I found a box inside a box, and inside of there, I unwrapped a little ziplock bag, very carefully took a little staple out, and then all of a sudden a little brown thing stuck out its little legs, and oh my goodness, it's a tarantula."
"The poor little thing was squished up like this, and I slowly unrolled it, and BING, his little legs stuck out."
Zelter found the second tarantula, a female, in a package from the same shipper, just days later in a toy airplane.
A tarantula was found inside this toy airplane in a package that arrived at the Edmonton international airport. Credit: Canadian Border Service Agency)
"It was a kids toy…I didn’t want to destroy a children's toy, so I undid the screws at the back."
"Inside that was a ziploc bag, and inside that tiny little bag with no room to breathe or move was a tarantula."
In both cases, CBSA called Environment Canada and the spider was taken away to be examined.
The spiders are both a native species to Hong Kong and do not require a permit to be imported into Canada, provided they are transported correctly and humanely.
"CBSA officers were able to find and rescue these two tarantulas from inhumane shipping methods," Lisa Laurencelle-Peace of the CBSA said in a news release.
"The CBSA works closely with its enforcement partners, including ECCC enforcement officers, to keep Canada’s border secure and stop the illegal wildlife trade."
The agency is reminding people travelling with or shipping living creatures that there are strict Canadian regulations for humane transportation, which requires all animals to be kept safe from harm when travelling by land, sea or air.
With files from CTV News Edmonton's David Ewasuk
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
DEVELOPING Latest updates on the major wildfires burning in Canada
The 2024 wildfire season has begun, and it's shaping up to follow last year's unprecedented destruction in kind, with thousands of square kilometres already consumed.
Veteran TSN sportscaster Darren Dutchyshen has died
Veteran TSN broadcaster Darren 'Dutch' Dutchyshen, one of Canada’s best-known sports journalists, has died. He was 57. His family says 'he passed as he was surrounded by his closest loved ones.'
Toronto man killed his mother and decapitated her — but it wasn't murder, lawyers argue
A ‘lifetime of abuse’ led Dallas Ly to snap and repeatedly stab his mother inside their Leslieville apartment in 2022 but he never intended to kill her, his defence lawyers argued during at his murder trial in Toronto on Thursday.
He had dreams of running for Canada in the Olympics, then he learned his family would be deported
A burgeoning track star says his dream of going to the Olympics is being derailed by a deportation order after Immigration officials rejected his family’s claim for asylum
Father charged with second-degree murder in daughter's stabbing death southwest of Montreal
A father has been charged with second-degree murder in the stabbing death of his 34-year-old daughter in southern Quebec.
Teen died from eating a spicy chip as part of social media challenge, autopsy report concludes
A medical examiner says a Massachusetts teen who participated in a spicy tortilla chip challenge died from ingesting a substance 'with a high capsaicin concentration.'
Kidnapped by her father and kept in a crawl space: Court documents reveal Montreal horror story
A Montreal father who kidnapped his daughter who has autism and lied to police when they asked where she was should serve three years in prison, a Crown prosecutor said.
Ontario calls on Toronto to drop 'disastrous' drug decriminalization request
The province’s health minister and solicitor general are urging Toronto to rescind its request to decriminalize simple possession of small amounts of drugs for personal use, calling the proposal 'misguided' and 'disastrous.'
Trudeau calls New Brunswick's Conservative government a 'disgrace' on women's rights
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau assailed New Brunswick's premier and other conservative leaders on Thursday, calling out the provincial government's position on abortion, LGBTQ youth and climate change.