Don't Bother the Black Widow

Thousands of poisonous spiders have ambushed farmers on the slopes of Mt. Wilis in East Java. They might well be enraged by the loss of their cleared habitat.

March 12, 2002

At about noon that day, Warimah, 40, was deeply engrossed in her work on a dry farm field, located on Plot 25 belonging to the Bajulan Forest Resort Unit of East Java's Nganjuk Regency. Suddenly she felt something creep onto her body. She ignored it, though, and kept working, even when she felt little bites, similar to ant bites, on her back. Half an hour later, though, she felt weak and dizzy. Losing orientation, she collapsed unconscious on

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