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Australian Reptile Park spider keeper Emma Teni. Photo: Australian Reptile Park<\/p>\nResidents throughout the Hunter are being urgently asked to safely capture and donate funnel-web spiders found around their homes.<\/p>\n
The plea comes after the Australian Reptile Park, located just an hour from Newcastle, issued a warning during the week that the long-lasting effects of COVID-19 lockdowns were still being felt in one of its critical life-saving programs.<\/p>\n
Currently, the venue is facing the lowest number of funnel-web spiders it has ever seen, placing pressure on the initiative that supplies essential venom across the country.<\/p>\n
Once they milk the atracids, the toxin is frozen and sent to CSL Seqirus in Melbourne to make antivenom.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Australian Reptile Park spider keeper Emma Teni. Photo: Australian Reptile Park<\/p>\n
While the impacts of COVID-19 may feel like a distant memory to many, for the Australian Reptile Park, the consequences are unfolding right now.<\/p>\n
During the 2020 lockdowns, locals were restricted to travelling within a 2km radius of their properties.<\/p>\n
As a result, almost no funnel-web spiders or egg sacs were donated during that time.<\/p>\n
Those, which would have matured and joined the venom program years later, simply never arrived.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are facing some of the lowest numbers of spiders in the history of the park,\u201d spider keeper Emma Teni said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis means we need donations now more than ever.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Australian Reptile Park milks adult male Sydney funnel-web spiders, as their venom is significantly more potent and essential for antivenom production.<\/p>\n
However, they only live around one year once they reach maturity, meaning the program constantly requires new donations to continue.<\/p>\n
It takes approximately 150 individual venom milkings to produce just one vial of antivenom.<\/p>\n
The highest recorded number of ampoules needed to save a single patient was 13.<\/p>\n
That means it took almost 2,000 venom milkings to save just one life.<\/p>\n
At present, the program is operating\u00a0below its usual funnel-web spider capacity, limiting how much venom can be collected.<\/p>\n
In recent years, the Australian Reptile Park has made major investments into expanding its breeding facility, with outstanding success.<\/p>\n
More than 2,000 juvenile funnel-web spiders are currently being raised to secure the future of the program.<\/p>\n
However, they are still years away from reaching maturity and cannot yet be milked.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe future of the program is strong,\u201d Ms Teni said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have thousands of baby spiderlings being raised.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut, it will be a few years until they\u2019re ready to be milked.\u201d<\/p>\n
Since the funnel-web antivenom initiative began more than 40 years ago, not a single person has died from a bite, an extraordinary achievement credited to antivenom and rapid medical treatment.<\/p>\n
Now, locals can play a role, too.<\/p>\n
There are 15 official spider drop-off locations from Sydney to Newcastle, including Broadmeadow (Animal Referral & Emergency Centre, 11 Perth Road) and New Lambton Heights (John Hunter Hospital, Pathology Level 2).<\/p>\n
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