Government workers evacuated twice due to spider scares
About 50 government workers have been evacuated from their offices twice after spider scares.
The employees at a Shared Services Canada building in Ottawa were evacuated from their office in June and sent home for two days after someone spotted an unusual spider in the office, CBC reports.
It later emerged that the spider bit one of the employees, according to Shared Services Canada.
The department added the bite was “consistent with that of a brown recluse” – a native North American spider, which is harmful to humans.
The office was fumigated but on October 18, employees spotted another spider and were sent home for another two days.
Monika Mazur, a spokesperson for the department, said since the spider “did not appear to be a typical house spider” management decided to be cautious.
It was feared the second arachnid could have been a brown recluse too however it was later determined to be a yellow sac spider, which is also purported to have necrotic venom but be harmless to humans.
The evacuations cost taxpayers A$18,000.
University of Toronto arachnologist Catherine Scott said the evacuations were “totally absurd” and a “giant waste of money”.
She added fumigating the office is possibly more dangerous to workers than the spider would have been.
Her comments were made before it emerged one of the employees had actually been bitten by a brown recluse.
