About an hour outside Vienna, the Penny Markt in Krems an der Donau prides itself on two things: low, low prices, and the provenance of its meat and fresh produce. But one mild August day last year, shoppers rummaging for a locally-sourced bargain found a rather more exotic, if less welcome, surprise, lurking amid the banana crates.
The culprit was a stowaway Brazilian Wandering Spider, an 11cm black and red arachnid with a bite that causes convulsions, hypothermia, death and—if you’re of the male persuasion—a particularly painful case of uncontrolled erections. You can imagine the shock.
