A parcel full of live venomous snakes, tarantulas and Asian forest scorpions has been intercepted by customs authorities after they x-rayed a box marked “two pair shoes”.
An international mail room in Melbourne discovered 11 snakes, nine tarantulas and four scorpions in the package, sent from northern Europe, on Monday.
The agriculture department’s deputy secretary, Lyn O’Connell, triumphantly declared that “no spider [was] a match for our biosecurity web”.
“We get our tails up when there are scorpions in the mail and if you try send exotic snakes ... we bite back with the full force of the law,” she said in a statement on Tuesday.
“Anyone who ... conceals reptiles or arachnids in small packages and sends them through the mail does not have the best interests of the animals – or Australia – at heart.”
Among the seized animals were six Wagler’s temple vipers, native to south-east Asia, and two Brazilian salmon pink bird-eating tarantulas, the third-largest tarantula in the world.
Three ball pythons, two hognose snakes, two Colombian giant tarantulas and five Mexican redknee tarantulas rounded out the package.
The Department of Agriculture said the animals posed a “high biosecurity risk” to Australia due to their capacity to carry pests and diseases. They added that they would be investigating the case further.
Last year, the department screened 12 million mail items and 4 million passengers, issuing 3,500 infringement notices.
“We are always finding new and unusual things that people are trying to smuggle into the country,” said Australian Border Force commander James Watson.
