Tarantulas, scorpions make costly pets

Customs officials at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport and a veterinarian said tarantulas and scorpions are expensive pets patronized by the well-to-do.

Following an investigation into an aborted attempt to smuggle more than 200 tarantulas and scorpions into the country last Sept. 29, Customs collector Nelson Ebio found that a tarantula the size of a peso coin is worth P8,000 while a two-inch long scorpion fetches between P2,000 to P3,000.

The parcel containing the arachnids arrived in the country from Hong Kong on board a Cathay Pacific flight.

Two of the spiders, almost four inches in size, reportedly costs more than P25,000.

Cathay Pacific Airlines, which shipped the items to Manila, is trying to determine who are behind the smuggling attempt. Airline officials are concerned that poisonous animals on board a plane could escape from their containers and bite passengers, Ebio said.

Customs examiner Epifania Rosero, who examined the arachnids, said they were stored in microwaveable plastic containers and film cartridges concealed in a styrofoam box.

Rosero, who was almost bitten by one of the scorpions said the box emitted a foul odor, probably because some of the spiders and scorpions died from asphyxiation from two days of being in the containers.

NAIA customs district collector Carlos So said all importations of live animals should have a clearance from the Convention of International Trade of Endangered Species, Flora and Fauna.

The arachnids are now in the custody of the Ninoy Aquino Parks and Wildlife Center in Quezon City.

The center’s resident veterinarian, Dr. Toledo Esteven, said the exotic animals are sourced from South America and brought to the Philippines because they command high prices as pets.

“Two of the huge tarantulas belong to the goliath species, and were imported apparently as breeders,” Esteven said. He added that the smuggled scorpions are called emperor scorpions since they grow to eight inches in length. This species, native to Africa, commands very high prices in the local market.

“These are expensive pets bought by well-to-do and are easy to care for because they subsist on insects,” Esteven said.

He said the spiders and scorpions  are exactly not “deadly” because their poison is only meant to stun or paralyze their victims prior to eating. A person bitten by these spiders or scorpions may suffer for a few hours, but someone allergic to their poison may require hospitalization, Esteven said.