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Police called after man heard shouting death threats ... at a spider

A lesson on what not to scream.
By Johnny Lieu  on 
Police called after man heard shouting death threats ... at a spider
A man's encounter with a spider resulted in a full-blown police turnout. Credit: Getty Images/EyeEm

Sure, spiders are scary enough to send some people into a tizzy.

For one Australian man with a serious fear of the arachnid, his rather intense vocal reaction resulted in multiple police units attending the scene.

On Wednesday morning in Perth, Western Australia, a bystander heard a man inside a property repeatedly shouting the words "why don't you die," with the sounds of a toddler screaming in the background. They naturally called police.

It turns out the man was only trying to kill a spider.

Western Australian Police posted a screenshot of the interaction on Twitter, however, the tweet was later deleted as officers aren't meant to screenshot police systems.

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"No injuries sighted (except to spider)," the police report read.

A WA Police spokesperson told Mashable via email that it was "very pleased the incident turned out to be something completely different to what was expected."

"The member of the community who phoned this in did exactly the right thing – they heard something that concerned them, and that made them think someone was in danger, and they immediately contacted Police," the spokesperson added.

"Our officers attend the scene urgently and that is when they discovered the incident was related to a spider. This isn’t something we see on a regular basis but it is definitely something the officers involved will remember."

A lesson on what not to scream next time you encounter a spider, at the very least.

Topics Animals

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Johnny Lieu

Mashable Australia's Web Culture Reporter.Reach out to me on Twitter at @Johnny_Lieu or via email at jlieu [at] mashable.com


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