Wisconsin Middle School Closed After Invasion Of Venomous Spiders

It is tough enough to keep kids attention during class, but then throw in an invasion of insects and you can't do anything but temporarily close the school so you can get it fumigated. The culprit was something called the yellow sac spider. According to Michigan State University, they are generally found under piles of leaves, and under window sills but when it gets cold and they make their way indoors they are usually found in corners of ceilings.

These spiders are aggressive in that they pursue their prey rather than wait to catch it in their web. When they encounter a human and get trapped under sheets or under clothing they will bite, and account for more bites than any other type of spider. The initial bite is generally not very painful but can become more of an irritant afterward with a rash and burning sensation.

Thursday, December 8 a student brushed one of those spiders off her arm which became swollen and itchy. A teacher was also bitten and had the same symptoms. Principal Cory Erlandson sent out a letter saying dozens of yellow sac spiders had been found at Wilson Middle School in Manitowoc, Wisconsin.

The school was closed yesterday morning as pest control services arrived to dispose of the spiders. The crew reportedly killed close to 30 spiders. Thank goodness all of those spiders did not spread throughout the school all at once it would have caused a stampede scaring those poor kids.

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According to WBAY: Superintendent James Feil said he did not know how the spiders got into the school but he was glad that the school district was able to take care of the situation so quickly. He went on to say:

That’s obviously something we’d like to determine, but whether or not we can or not because we took measures to eradicate it. No, we don’t, except that we’ve not experienced this before, at least not anything like this degree where we had a number of spiders that we recognized. We had to make some immediate action.

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These types of spiders are common in Northern Wisconsin and now I am going to have nightmares now knowing that these things are out there, I am not a fan of any kind. Again, thankfully more kids were not bitten as it seems a majority of the spiders were hiding.