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A comment on The district court ruled that brown recluse spiders are insects [pdf]. Parent comment

Re:The district court ruled that brown recluse spiders are i... by Causality1 on Sunday May 17, 2020 @01:11PM (#23213383)
Strange that they focused on that instead of the fact that a spider infestation isn't property damage. It doesn't affect the building in any way other than killing other harmful bugs. Spider removal isn't a property damage expense any more than calling animal control to pick up a stray dog that'd gone to sleep on your rug would be.
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Re:The district court ruled that brown recluse spiders are i... by TheChaplain on Sunday May 17, 2020 @01:24PM (#23213498)
Uh, do a google image search on brown recluse spider bite, they certainly aren't harmless and could cause serious damage if let wandering around.
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Re:The district court ruled that brown recluse spiders are i... by seanhandley on Sunday May 17, 2020 @01:35PM (#23213580)
Interesting anecdote here:

> In 2001, more than 2,000 brown recluse spiders were removed from a heavily infested home in Kansas, yet the four residents who had lived there for years were never harmed by the spiders, despite many encounters with them.

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_recluse_spider#Bite)

You're right - they're not harmless - but I suspect they're not as dangerous as folklore might portray them.

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Re:The district court ruled that brown recluse spiders are i... by falcolas on Sunday May 17, 2020 @02:13PM (#23213914)
Sure, they’re not at all dangerous until you’re bitten. Just as a power tool without guards is perfectly safe until someone sticks there hand in the powered bit.
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Re:The district court ruled that brown recluse spiders are i... by pbhjpbhj on Sunday May 17, 2020 @01:57PM (#23213756)
Damage in the legal sense, for property, is something that causes a reduction in the value, or the ability to enjoy the property. Even if the spiders went inherently valuable of being harmful, the face that many people are fearful of spiders makes an infestation effective damage.
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Re:The district court ruled that brown recluse spiders are i... by catalogia on Sunday May 17, 2020 @01:57PM (#23213754)
For the squeamish: brown recluse venom is necrotic, it causes flesh around the bite to decay. This doesn't always happen, but it happens enough to be alarming.
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