143 Tarantulas Confiscated at Airport in Colombia

This creepy, crawly shipment was confiscated in Colombia, where authorities hopefully don’t have arachnophobia. Officials say 143 tarantulas were being smuggled through Bogota’s airport to Mexico City, but they were alerted to a suspicious package by the shipping company. Officials say the parcel didn’t comply with its shipping standards for transporting such cargo. When they retrieved the tarantulas, 12 were already dead. Inside Edition Digital’s Mara Montalbano has more.

[tnut]

I love how they sent the tarantulas to an animal care/rehabilitation center. I keep imagining them doing medical checkups on all the tarantulas kinda like the would check a dog at the vet.

[laurenminter]

This is horrible for those Tarantulas!!! You should NEVER pack any insects or spiders in plastic like that! I’m shocked there weren’t more dead… ugh I don’t like insects or spiders but this is wrong

[srideout]

As a person who has owned many tarantulas over the years it breaks my heart to see that these poor creatures went through this.

[thegooseofmoose]

I'm absolutely terrified of spiders, but I can't imagine torturing them like that :( It doesn't matter that they're not as intelligent as humans, no creature deserves to be treated like that

[crash]

Wow how horribly packaged. They didn't even give them proper shipping.

[anom]

As someone who keeps these creatures as pets, and has over 45 of them, I'd happily take the whole package.

[OwDRPITY]

if you ship tarantulas in plastic baggies you're essentially wishing death upon them :(

[NathalieCwiekSwiercz]

POOR SPIDERS, no matter how creepy they may be, that's NOT how you handle insects and animals 😭💔

[rvsxe]

I'm so surprised about this! Colombia is my home country and I'm 100% sure that someone would do this!!

[Alex_ThunderBird]

Imagine if those spiders escaped from a laboratory and it lands on your hand and it bites you and then you wake up in the morning with spidey senses.

[dragonsboon]

This is why captive breeding is so important. It is healthier for the animals and good for conservation. Smuggling is never ok

[cosmickoi]

it makes me happy they didnt put the creepy crawlies down

[carsondouglas]

Jail‼️ how dare them zip them up in plastic.

[angiediblasi]

That's creepy .... I just can't imagine one getting loose on the plane 😮

[alexanderzadoroznyj]

Only 12 were dead?! That’s a MIRACLE considering how they were packaged!

They can send the living ones over to me… I’d make room for them in my spider room which already houses 12 tarantulas, a scorpion, and a snake.

[khalilahd.]

I couldn’t imagine having this job. You couldn’t pay me to touch a spider 😭

[akiarasenpai]

The way they packed those poor tarantulas is so unethical. Glad they're at an animal rehab center!

[veerflight]

that’s terrifying imagine they got loose on the plane

[sallymoen]

What a shame, some of them dead. They look to be very young.

[Jvcyt]

Imagine sleeping in your seat and then a spider is just on you😦