German customs officials find 1,500 tarantulas hidden in cake boxes
www.euronews.com
The tarantulas were discovered about three weeks ago, but the customs office only made the images public on Monday.
  • MeatPilot@lemmy.worldEnglish
    2·
    6 hours ago

    All new season of “Is it Cake or Is It Full of Spiders?”.

    You’ll be crawling to your TV screen! New this season we watch contestants take a bite out of their selections to find out which is which.

  • General_Effort@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
    15·
    12 hours ago

    Customs officials found the shipment at Cologne Bonn airport in a package that had arrived from Vietnam, tipped off by a “noticeable smell” that didn’t resemble the expected aroma of the seven kilograms of the confectionery treats, Cologne customs office spokesman Jens Ahland said.

    Anyone care to guess what that smell might have been?

    • pulsewidth@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2·
      3 hours ago

      It says in the article that many died during transport. Dead spiders smell. Large dead spiders packed in a box with dozens of other large dead spiders would stink.

      However, it’s my understanding that most international mail gets x-rayed as standard when passing through customs. This is the case in Australia where I live. So even before the smell, this package would have been on the radar for inspection.

    • chonglibloodsport@lemmy.worldEnglish
      5·
      10 hours ago

      But how long was it, how much more of this would they have to endure, or could they endure? The breathlessness of the air was growing as they climbed; and now they seemed often in the blind dark to sense some resistance thicker than the foul air.

      As they thrust forward they felt things brush against their heads, or against their hands, long tentacles, or hanging growths perhaps: they could not tell what they were. And still the stench grew. It grew, until almost it seemed to them that smell was the only clear sense left to them, and that was for their torment. One hour, two hours, three hours: how many had they passed in this lightless hole? Hours - days, weeks rather. Sam left the tunnel-side and shrank towards Frodo, and their hands met and clasped, and so together they still went on.

      At length Frodo, groping along the left-hand wall, came suddenly to a void.

      Almost he fell sideways into the emptiness. Here was some opening in the rock far wider than any they had yet passed; and out of it came a reek so foul, and a sense of lurking malice so intense, that Frodo reeled. And at that moment Sam too lurched and fell forwards.

      Fighting off both the sickness and the fear, Frodo gripped Sam’s hand. ‘Up!’ he said in a hoarse breath without voice. ‘It all comes from here, the stench and the peril. Now for it! Quick!’

      Calling up his remaining strength and resolution, he dragged Sam to his feet, and forced his own limbs to move. Sam stumbled beside him. One step, two steps, three steps - at last six steps. Maybe they had passed the dreadful unseen opening, but whether that was so or not, suddenly it was easier to move, as if some hostile will for the moment had released them. They struggled on, still hand in hand…

      — J.R.R. Tolkien. Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

    • pulsewidth@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2·
      3 hours ago

      Cunts illegally importing exotic species with no shits given for their welfare, for the pet trade.

        • huppakee@feddit.nlEnglish
          7·
          11 hours ago

          Could also be they expect a part to not survive. And if the price to buy/source them is very low compared to the price they can be sold for, that might also make it attractive to smuggle more. But still, can imagine it takes a while to sell 1,500 spiders.

    • shalafi@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2·
      11 hours ago

      They’re expensive little beasts. There’s a local pet shop that sells a wide variety and I would only be able to afford the tiny ones pictured.