MANILA, Philippines - The package from Hong Kong looked innocent enough, marked "personal clothing." But when customs officials opened it, they were stunned to see about 300 live scorpions and spiders.
The scorpions and spiders — which included tarantulas — were packed in nets, bottles and transparent plastic boxes, concealed under clothes, newspapers reported Wednesday.
"The scorpions almost bit the examiner," Nelson Ebio, a port collector at the Central Mail Exchange Center, told the Philippine Daily Inquirer. It was the first time the post office had encountered such poisonous mail, he said.
The Philippine Star daily quoted Ebio as saying the package arrived from Hong Kong on Monday, but it was not clear who sent it or why, though some speculated they could have been intended for a collector of the creatures.
The spiders and scorpions were later handed over to the parks and wildlife office.
Steven Toledo, head of the office's rescue center, said the spiders and scorpions will be "taken care of" and possibly used in exhibitions. He said some of them were still juveniles.
Linkback:
https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=5356.0
