Spider Bites Candian Tourist on Northland Beach

It’s not just sting rays, sharks and rip currents (about 40 people drown every year off the beaches) that you have to watch out for on New Zealand’s coastline but the venomous Katipo spider too. New Zealand may not be as safe as you think it is.

Whilst enjoying a Northland beach a Canadian tourist was bitten in a very sensitive place by one of New Zealand’s more dangerous animals, the Katipo spider that’s related to the Black Widow.

It resulted in a 16 day hospital stay, a dose of anti-venom, myocarditis (heart inflammation) and other symptoms and a ruined holiday.

There were at least 14 bites from this species of spider over a four year period to 2006 and none of them were from Northland

From Yahoo.co.nz News (NB. news articles based on the original press release omit to mention the name of the Northland beach however we are given a few clues)

“The 22-year-old Canadian left his clothes in the sand dunes while he went for his nude swim at a Northland beach.

He slept on his return, according to a report on the case in today’s online NZ Medical Journal.

He woke to find his penis swollen and painful with a red mark on the shaft suggestive of a bite. He rapidly developed generalised muscle pains, fever, headache, photophobia [light sensitivity] and vomiting,” wrote Dr Nigel Harrison and colleagues who treated him at Dargaville and Whangarei hospitals.

By the time the man reached Dargaville Hospital, his penis was severely swollen, his blood pressure was up and his heart beat racing.

Chest pain and other symptoms developed the next morning and it was presumed he had been bitten by a katipo. He was treated with anti-venom medicine and rapidly improved.

However, heart problems persisted and he was treated at Whangarei Hospital and Auckland Hospital before returning to Canada.

Katipo spiders are known to have a highly specialised habitat in New Zealand sand dunes and will bite only rarely, and in defence.

This was the first known case of myocarditis, or heart inflammation, caused by a bite, Dr Harrison said.

A prompt diagnosis and the use of anti-venom resulted in a good outcome for the tourist, he said.”

Back in 2006 a warning was issued to nudists to take care as Katipo thrived and were abundant on Whangarei’s Uretiti Beach, one spider specialist found 25 of them in an hour.

Wikipedia has an entry for the native to New Zealand spider:

Katipo spider

“Latrodectus katipo, the katipo, is an endangered species of spider native to New Zealand. A member of the genus Latrodectus, it is related to the Australian redback spider, and the North American black widow spiders. The species is venomous to humans, capable of delivering a comparatively dangerous spider bite. Katipo is a Māori name and means “night-stinger”. It is a small to medium-sized spider with the female having a distinctive black body with a white bordered red stripe on its back. North of 39°15′S females do not have a red stripe and are all black. The male is much smaller than the female and quite different in appearance, being white with black stripes and red diamond shaped markings. Katipo have a narrow habitat, being only found living in sand dunes close to the seashore. They range throughout most of coastal New Zealand, but are not found at the southernmost regions. Spinning an irregular tangled web amongst dune plants or other debris, they feed mainly on ground dwelling insects.
After mating in August or September, the female produces five or six egg sacs in November or December. The spiderlings hatch during January and February and disperse into surrounding plants. Due to the loss of habitat and colonisation of their natural habitat by other exotic spiders, the katipo is being faced with extinction.

A bite from the katipo produces a toxic syndrome known as latrodectism. Symptoms include extreme pain and potentially systemic effects, such as hypertension, seizure, or coma. Bites are rare and deaths have not been reported since the 18th century. An antivenom is available in New Zealand for treatment. The katipo is particularly notable in New Zealand as the nation is almost entirely devoid of dangerous native wildlife. This unique status has led to the spider becoming well-known, despite sightings being very rare.^“

Whitetail
New Zealand’s other potentially dangerous spider is the Whitetail whose bites can lead to serious and potentially life threatening symptoms, one woman in Rotorua was hospitalised for 4 days after one bit her on the arm. The head of the hospital’s emergency department said that as many as four people a week went to the hospital with mysterious bites. See story here 

Also see:  Canadian tourist Matt Brazeau injured in another stingray backlash

Today's posts - click here

Libby Templeman Trial, Not Guilty Plea Entered -Updated

The trial of a teenager charged with the murder of British school girl Liberty Rose Templeman has got underway at the High Court in Whangarei.

The boy, who was 14 at the time that Libby died, has entered not guilty pleas to the charges of murder and indecent assault.

Various sources have said that the boy was in the same class as Libby at her old school in Kerikeri but was not her boyfriend. She had returned to the area to visit friends after her family moved to Auckland for work reasons.

Update
A report about the opening day of the trial, during which the court was told that it would hear tapes in which the boy admitted to strangling Libby, was given on Voxy

"The youth, now aged 16, has name suppression and quietly pleaded not guilty to charges of murder and the indecent assault of Liberty Rose Templeman at Kerikeri in early November 2008. At the time the accused was aged 15 and an acquaintance of the dead girl but not her boyfriend.

Justice Raynor Asher continued suppression of the accused's name - he can only be identified as "K" - pending a review at the outcome of the trial which is expected to last three weeks. The Crown will call more than 40 witnesses.

Liberty Templeman, known to friends as Libby, was English and migrated to New Zealand with her parents in 2005. The family settled in Kerikeri where she attended the local high school. In late 2008 Libby's parents moved to Auckland for better work opportunities.

Mr Smith said Libby kept up her contacts with friends in Kerikeri and on a Friday in early November 2008, she took a bus to Kerikeri to meet up with some of them, including a boyfriend. On the Saturday they socialised and there was an impromptu barbeque at which the accused was also present. That began to break up about 6.30pm and Libby set off to meet her boyfriend at a local supermarket. She never got there.

"K" was seen with Libby who, like most young people was busily texting, said Mr Smith. They ducked off the road and suddenly the texting stopped.

The Crown's case was that "K" knocked the girl down then strangled her. After that he dragged her unconscious down to the bank of the Wairoa stream. He pulled down her pants exposing her genitalia and lifted her bra to expose a breast in an attempt to indicate Libby was the victim of rape.

The accused then cycled home where he hid a blood-spotted green shirt he was wearing in a plastic bag in bushes where it was later found by the police.

He went inside and showered.

Libby's boyfriend was concerned when she did not show up, it was not like her to be late, said Mr Smith. After a search with a parent the police were contacted that evening. Libby's father was contacted and he drove through the night to Kerikeri.

More than 24 hours later her body was found on the banks of the stream.

Mr Smith told the jury they would hear police interviews with "K," some videoed, and his admission of attacking Libby and re-arranging her clothing to make it look like a rape.

Earlier Justice Asher told the jury of six men and six women to ignore what they may heard or read of the crime and not to jump to early conclusions.

"Your task is to be dispassionate ... and that includes putting aside sympathy for the accused."

Our thoughts are with Libby's family and friends, the next few days will be a very difficult time for them and they are sure to have the full support of their communities in the UK and in New Zealand.

The case is being followed in the British newspaper The Daily Telegraph

For other posts about Libby please click here

Today's posts - click here

2 More German Tourists, Anke Kuballa and Marc Busch, Robbed In Northland

Unfortunately crimes against tourists in Northland don't seem to be abating despite the widespread publicity that some recent incidents have attracted.

Anke Kuballa, 20, and Marc Busch, 22, bought a touring van for $1,600 in Auckland and were driving  it north to Whangarei a month later when the clutch failed. They paid $600 to a local Whangarei mechanic to have it fixed. Shortly afterward they were doing some shopping in the town and when they returned to where they'd left the vehicle found that it had been stolen, along with $13,000 worth of belongings  including passports, three cameras, two iPods, four backpacks and camping gear.

According to an article in the Northern Advocate the couple said they thought it would be a good idea if tourists were warned about thieves as soon as they arrived in NZ. We agree with them.

We've also said that we think that tourists should have access to free, safety deposit boxes or lockers in some tourist towns. It would give them somewhere safe to leave valuable equipment, cash and passports and also make them less of a target for muggers and thieves.

See also our other posts about:
Numerous incidents involving German tourists
Northland 


 Today's posts - click here

One Dead As Car Plunges From Bridge At Whangarei Falls - Updated

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One person has been killed after a car came off the road at Kiripaka Bridge and plunged into the Hatea River at Whangarei Falls shortly before 3pm this afternoon. The name of the deceased person has yet to be released.

We believe this to be the 7th death on New Zealand's roads this month.

15 October
The deceased man was later named as Mr Rex Henwood who was said to have been in his 50s.

Six Year Old Kids Take Dope To School

From NZHerald, 21 Sept 09

"Northland children as young as 6 years old are being caught with cannabis at school.

Police say many Northlanders smoke cannabis - this week it was revealed that of the 141,000 plants seized nationally in the 2008-09 season, almost half were in Northland - and many parents are exposing their children to the drug.

In the latest incident, two boys aged just 11 and 12 were caught with cannabis at Russell Primary School.

....In June, a 6-year-old boy brought 10 cannabis tinnies to Whangarei's Totara Grove School in a McDonald's bag. It is thought he had taken the bag to school by mistake.

Russell's sole police officer, Constable Mark Caswell, said finding primary school-aged children with cannabis was unusual - "but not as unusual as people think, sadly. How young some of these people are is quite incredible."

".....In Northland in 2007, 35 students were suspended for drug abuse from one primary, two intermediate and 13 secondary schools. Last year 12 students from five schools were suspended.

Tai Tokerau Principals' Association president Pat Newman said children brought cannabis to a primary school to"show and tell" friends or because their parents had asked them to give it to another child to pass to their parents.

However, schools dealt every day with the "disastrous" effects of cannabis, alcohol and methamphetamine (or P) on children's lives."

In a snapshot of what is going on elsewhere in NZ in June 2008 police told TVNZ that children taking and dealing drugs in school wasn't a "new issue" after 5 nine year old boys were caught smoking cannabis at Owhata primary school in Rotorua and that this sort of thing had been going on for 20 years.

At around the same time a quantity of cannabis was seized at Longford Intermediate school in Gore, and Westlake Boys School in Auckland asked 12 students to leave after a dealing ring was uncovered.

Then in July of this year 10 students from Lindisfarne College, Hastings were expelled and another seven suspended after another cannabis dealing ring was busted.

It's indicative that cannabis use amongst school children is a problem not just in Northland but throughout New Zealand, which has the highest rate of cannabis use in the OECD, the third highest Amphetamine use, and is placed second for both victims of crime and total crimes per capita:

NZ police say that most cannabis tinnie houses were selling-points for methamphetamine as well and that drugs and crime are well linked.

"Cannabis and meth come hand in hand now and there is a real link between drugs, stolen property, firearms and gangs."

It was probable most of the cannabis produced in Northland was destined for Auckland."

Maternity Unit Suspended, DHB Accused of Covering Up Baby Death

Yet more evidence that maternity services in New Zealand have reached breaking point. For background to this issue see Pregnant women ordered out of New Zealand and an article in the February edition of the NZ Listener "New Zealand's maternity system is an unfortunate experiement from which the rest of the world will learn"


From the Herald on Sunday, by Cliff Taylor.
"Health authorities in Northland are being accused of a cover-up over the death of a baby at Dargaville Hospital.
An inquiry is under way into what is believed to have been a stillbirth at the hospital in early January.
Birthing at the hospital has been suspended while the investigation is carried out, forcing women in labour to be transferred 58km over a twisting, hilly road to Whangarei Hospital.
Pregnant women in the town have told the Herald on Sunday they have concerns about their safety and that of their babies, and have demanded more information from Northland District Health Board.
The DHB denies there is a cover-up, although neither it nor the hospital will even confirm the death or what is being investigated.
The DHB says the maternity unit is not being used for births after a "clinical incident" at the hospital.
A local newspaper in Dargaville reported a stillbirth at the hospital in January, and another printed several death notices....."
More here: Maternity unit suspended

Rare White Tiger Kills Keeper, Destroyed

There are only 120 white tigers left in the world and none in the wild, there was one less today.

Dalu Mncube, a South African keeper at Zion Wildlife Gardens Whangarei, entered the white tiger enclosure this morning and was mauled to death in front of a group of horrified French and British tourists.

Zoo staff were unable to free the keeper in time and he died in the enclosure, the tiger was destroyed soon after.

This was the third mauling incident at the park in the last year.

In a cruel twist of fate Mr Mncube bravely prised apart the mouth of the same tiger in February when it savaged Demetri Price.

Demetri Price, a senior zoo-keeper, laughed off the attack at the time, saying he had "no worry at all" about the zoo's safety.

"The danger involved in this kind of work ... is all relative," he told NZ television. "The way we go about this kind of work, generally you are pretty damn safe," he said.

In another incident in July 2008 Lisa Baxter, a Scottish teenager who worked at the park, was bitten by a white lion called Timba after putting her hands through a hole in the fence. She was left with permanent scarring to both her hands:

(she) knew that if she screamed it would wake the rest of the pack and she would be killed, so she quietly worked to free her hands from the piercing bite of 18 month old Timba, the lion. Lisa, of Gullane, East Lothian, said: "I was stroking Timba's nose when he just grabbed my hand. His teeth were razorsharp and went straight through my skin." Later she added, "My hands were so swollen, I thought they were going to explode."

The park was later criticised after Mr Busch failed to tell the Dept of Labour about the attack.

Care and Safety Standards Had Slipped
The park had been made famous by the TV series 'Lion Man'. According to the 'Australian' the Lion Man TV series "followed the work of Craig Busch, who was dismissed from the park controlled by his mother last year.

On Tuesday, Busch claimed in a court hearing over his dismissal that animal care and safety standards had slipped at the park since the breakdown of his relationship with his mother.

"I became very concerned with animal welfare issues," he said.

Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry documents released to Television New Zealand last year expressed concerns over animals kept in crowded, unsanitary conditions.

Inspectors were at one stage so concerned by conditions at Zion Wildlife Gardens they considered having 40 lions and tigers put down."

--------

"Things started really coming apart after they got the last tape off from the third [television] series," Mr Busch said at an Employment Relations Authority hearing yesterday.

"After that, they stopped staff from working with me, they wouldn't let me discuss anything with them about the park. I became very concerned with animal welfare issues."

A Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry investigation expressed concern that animals were kept in crowded, insanitary conditions.

Mr Busch's lawyer Daniel Erickson today refuted reports that an ERA hearing was under way at the park at the time of today's attack. Mr Erickson acknowledged that one of the issues raised at the authority by Mr Busch yesterday was safety."

It seems that no lessons were learned from the two recent near misses and this incident is going to raise serious questions about workplace health safety provisions and practices at the zoo. Why exactly weren't more stringent precautions being taken with a tiger that had already attacked a human?

At present the park is closed and legal proceedings may well follow.

It's an absolute tragedy that both a man and a rare tiger have lost their lives in what may well have been a totally preventable, if not foreseeable, incident. Wildlife parks should be about conservation, not treating wild animals like circus performers, leading cubs around on leashes and getting into enclosures with dangerous top predators. Enough of it - either return the park to a genuine conservation facility or close it down and re-home the 'side-shows' to facilities that know how to treat them properly.

What right has a conservation organisation got to shoot an animal for doing what comes naturally?

Note:

A big cat mauling also occurred at Wellington Zoo in January 2006, when an unlocked door allowed 2 lions to get into an enclosure whilst the keeper, Bob Bennett, was setting out food. He too was mauled in front of shocked visitors and spent three days in hospital following the 20 minute attack

Two Swedish Tourists Killed on Dangerous Northland Road

Within hours of their arrival in New Zealand two young Swedish tourists have been killed on a notorious stretch of road

Source NZ Herald

"Relatives of two Swedish tourists who died in a car crash in Northland are being sought by Interpol to tell them of the tragedy.

The two young women, both in their early 20s, died when they lost control of their car on the northern side of the Brynderwyn Hills, south of Whangarei yesterday.

Their car crossed the centre line and hit a north bound car, killing the two women and slightly injuring the driver and front seat passenger of the north bound car."

Whangarei Sergeant Chris Goodall said the road had a "decided history of loss of control accident whenever it rains." and that although the road was three lanes wide there was a tendency for people to "fall off" and to lose concentration.
According to the Herald it was the second fatal accident in the area in two days. On Friday Robert Watene, 22, died when his car and a truck collided on State Highway 1 near the Waipu turnoff, about 30km north of the Brynderwyn Hills.

The deceased were later named as 20 year old  Emelie Jenny Green and Theresia Andrea Johansson.

362 Killed in last 12 months

In the year to 27 Feb a total of 362 people have been killed on New Zealand's roads, 66 of them in the last 2 months.


See also 'Eva Kosanic, French National, Dies in Northland Car Crash'