Black widows hitch ride to shipyard

BATH, Maine, Dec. 15 (UPI) -- A spokesman for a Maine shipyard said about two dozen venomous black widow spiders stowed away in a shipment of equipment from California.

James DeMartini, a spokesman for Bath Iron Works, said the spiders arrived in a shipment of vertical launch system parts from a California supplier. He said a professional pest exterminator was brought in to eradicate the spiders and fumigate some compartments of the future USS Michael Murphy, an Arleigh Burke guided-missile destroyer being constructed at the shipyard, the Bangor (Maine) Daily News reported Wednesday.

"There was some excitement when the spiders were found, but the more we looked into it, the more we're confident that what we did was all we needed to do," DeMartini said.

DeMartini said there were workers in some of the areas where the spiders were found, but no bites were reported.

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: http://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2011/12/15/Black-widows-hitch-ride-to-shipyard/UPI-97031323939600/.