World's Most Venomous Spider Among 7,000+ Bugs Stolen From Philly Insectarium

Looks like I picked a good time to move back to NYC, heh. heh. Over 7,000 bugs & lizards totaling at least $40K were stolen from the Philadelphia Insectarium, including the ‘Six Eyed Sand Spider’ whose venom is said to be the most dangerous on record. In an interview a worker there said this little guy could rot 25% of your body:

It’s suspected that since August 22nd, several current or former employees had been intermittently stealing these critters. They took Mexican Fireleg Tarantulas, Bumblebee Millipedes, Tigerhissers(????) and more. Among the empty aquariums were the museum’s blue uniforms stabbed into the wall. Now police believe they’ve found the suspects & are working to recover what was taken. It helped that the thieves stole the bugs in broad daylight & packed them into a car under a surveillance camera.

This might sound naive but who steals bugs? Is there a blackmarket for cool spiders? Who’s impressed by that? Either way, the world’s most venomous spider is still on the loose but the chief executive of the Insectarium is keeping his cool:

The thieves could face significant time behind bars for stealing the creatures and tampering with evidence, but Dr. Cambridge said he would prefer that they not be reprimanded so harshly.

“They are young, and I really hope that this isn’t something that follows them for the rest of their life,” Dr. Cambridge said. “Everybody does dumb stuff when they’re young.”

Though I’ve never stolen living creatures, I’d have to agree with that last part. And I think I know where that one spider went.