'I was watching TV at home when deadly African scorpion crawled past my feet'
A woman has been been lauded for her brave actions after a terrifying African scorpion appeared on her living room floor while she was watching TV.
The homeowner, from Swindon, was given a huge shock when the exotic creature began scuttling across the carpet one evening earlier this month - and quickly trapped it under a wine glass. After carefully transferring the arachnid into a jam jar, she got in touch with the RSPCA, who told her to get in touch with a specialist. The scorpion - later found to belong to the venomous and potentially deadly Buthidae family - is thought to have hitched a ride in her luggage back to England after a recent trip to Africa.
It was initially given to local expert Jonathan Cleverly, who lauded the anonymous woman for her quick-thinking response. He told the BBC: "She'd done a brilliant job of moving it from a wine glass into a jam jar with a secure lid so it couldn't move and escape.
"She put in some lettuce for a bit of moisture. She looked after it brilliantly well."
Mr Cleverly, who runs a 'Jungle Roadshow' that educates local children on different types of wildlife, said he did not believe the scorpion was an escaped pet - and believed it was likely a stowaway which had survived the trip over.
He added: "The scorpion, I would like to say, is absolutely gorgeous - even if it is potentially harmful to humans, it's a very rare thing for these sorts of scorpion to make their way into the UK."
The scorpion has since been sent to live with an expert who holds a Dangerous Wild Animals (DWA) licence. It's believed the critter was around 4cm long, with Jonathan calling it the "most dangerous animal" he ever had.
It's not the first time a scorpion has made an unexpected visit to Britain. Last summer, a couple were left stunned after discovering a 'venomous' scorpion stowaway in their suitcase.
John Gray, 27, and his girlfriend, Jodie Daly, 26, were unpacking their luggage after arriving back in England from Mexico when the unwelcome visitor suddenly emerged.
He managed to trap the scorpion in a pint glass before transferring it to a takeaway container with added air holes and calling a local reptile rescue. Soon after, they discovered the arachnid was pregnant, and they kept it overnight before it could be taken to a rescue centre the following morning.
Describing the incident last July, John, a client solutions manager from Streatham, South London, said: "We got back to the flat and Jodie was sorting out the washing. As she pulled out a t-shirt and the scorpion dropped out and ran into the bedroom. All I heard was her screaming and shouting - I had no idea what was going on.
"She was shouting 'scorpion', but I still didn't know what she meant I ran in there and found a six-inch scorpion sitting in the bedroom trying to hide under the washing. We didn't even see one while we were in Mexico - I was shocked. I called Mitcham Zoo who work with non-native species and reptiles, and they wanted to send it over to their team to do some research.
"They said it was highly likely it was highly venomous - we kept it in a container inside a Hello Fresh box. We were trying not to kill it but to also stop it from killing us."
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