Dawlish News
A DAWLISH footballer had to pull out of the squad after he was bitten by a venomous spider.
Steve Harris (pictured) , 22, was forced to undergo an emergency operation at Torbay Hospital after being bitten by a false black widow, one of the most poisonous spiders in the country. He said: "When I woke up I had a pain in my side — a stinging feeling. I didn't take that much notice until it started swelling and the pain got worse.
"It looked like a bite, although I didn't know it was from a spider at the time. The area around the bite mark just ballooned and grew and grew. It was only when the area started to turn black, some four days after I first noticed the bite, I decided I ought to go to hospital.
"I went to Torbay Hospital and they instantly said I had been bitten by a spider. They said they had seen six other people attending with similar bites within the previous week. They told me the false black widow spider was the culprit."
