Call the spider man! Black widow caught on Telford industrial estate rehomed at Exotic Zoo

Scott Adams from Telford's Exotic Zoo was called to a unit on Hortonwood after worried reports of a black widow spider on the premises.

The distinctive spider, known for its red hourglass mark, was easy to catch thanks to its unusual webbing, and is now settling in at the zoo.

"It's getting less and less of a surprise that these spiders are turning up," Scott said this afternoon.

"This is the third one we've been out to in Shropshire in the last three years.

"They're notorious for being one of the most deadly spiders in the world. People do die from being bit by them, but it's not a massively common occurrence.

"Although films and cartoons portray them as something that will chase you, it's not true. They run away from danger, not towards it."

Earlier the zoo tweeted:

Because the zoo's previous black widow resident had recently died, the team was fully equipped to give it a new home.

"It's easy to tell a black widow's web because it's not symmetrical," said Scott.

"It's quite obvious there's something different about it when you see it.

"We haven't had a black widow for a while but we had an empty home for it to drop into. It's already settling in nicely."