Example 4
----------------------------A true story and its source was the Australian Quarantine Inspection Service in Adelaide.
A bloke and his family were on holidays in the United States and went to
Mexico for a week. An avid cactus fan, the man bought a one-metre high, rare
and expensive cactus there. On arrival back home Australian Customs said it
must be quarantined for 3 months.
He finally got his cactus home. Planted it in his backyard, and over
time it grew to about 2 metres. One evening while watering his garden after
a warm spring day, he gave the cactus a light spray. He was amazed to see the
plant shiver all over, he gave it another spray and it shivered again. He was
puzzled so he rang the council who put him on to the state gardens people.
After a few transfers he got the state's foremost cactus expert who asked
him many questions. How Tall is it? Has it flowered? etc. Finally he asked
the most disturbing question. "Is your family in the house?" The bloke
answered yes. The cactus expert said get out of the house NOW, get on to
the front nature strip and wait for me, I will be there in 20 minutes.
Fifteen minutes later, 2 fire trucks, 2 police cars and an ambulance came
screaming around the corner. A fireman got out and asked "Are you the bloke
with the cactus?" I am, he said. A guy jumped out of the fire truck wearing
what looked like a space suit, a breathing cylinder and mask attached to
what looked like a scuba backpack with a large hose attached. He headed
for the backyard and turned a flame-thrower on the cactus spraying it up
and down.
After a few minutes the flame-thrower man stopped, the cactus stood smoking
and spitting, half the fence was burnt and parts of the gardens were well
and truly scorched. Just then the cactus expert appeared and laid a calming
hand on the bloke's shoulder. "What the hell's going on? he says. "Let me
show you" says the cactus man. He went over to the cactus and picked away a
crusty bit, the cactus was almost entirely hollow and filled with tiger
striped bird-eating tarantula spiders, each about the size of two hand
spans.
The story was that this type of spider lays eggs in this type of cactus and
they hatch and live in it as they grow to full size. When full size they
release themselves. The cactus just explodes and about 150 dinner plate
sized hairy spiders are flung from it, dispersing everywhere. They had been
ready to pop. The aftermath was that the house and the adjoining houses had
to be vacated and fumigated: police tape was put up outside the whole area
and no one was allowed in for two weeks.
And here's what one of the b*****ds looks like sitting on a full size dinner
plate.
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