A terrified British family found a scorpion in their kitchen which they suspect hitched a ride from Kenya.
Liz Burrows, 50, and her husband Ian, 52, were accompanied by their 18-year-old daughter Daisy when they made the alarming discovery on a Sunday afternoon.
The 4cm scorpion was spotted by Liz on the kitchen floor, prompting Ian to carefully scoop it into a jar for further observation.
Daisy recently spent a month in the African country and recognised the scorpion from her travels.
However, considering Daisy returned home two weeks prior, the unsettling thought loomed that the scorpion had lurked unnoticed within their home for a fortnight.
Liz shared her initial reaction to the unnerving encounter: “We’d been out and got home and I went to the fridge and it was just in front of it on the floor. My daughter looked down thinking it was a leaf at first. It then became quite clear it was a scorpion.
“Its tail was quivering so it was still alive but it wasn’t moving much, certainly not enough to send us running out the room. I wanted to get rid of it straight away but my husband thought it was quite interesting and wanted to keep it. I think my neighbours are quite anxious that we have a scorpion in the house.
“It must have hitched a lift with my daughter from Kenya because we’ve never had a scorpion in the house before. I’m just hoping it doesn’t have any other friends.
“I didn’t share my husband’s excitement. My first instinct was to kill it or dispose of it because of the risk to my family and the dogs. We did some research online and we believe it could be a striped bark scorpion or a pygmy thick tail.”
The venom in the sting of the type of scorpion found by the family are rarely deadly but can be very painful.
Ian used some paper to pick up the scorpion and stick it in a jar with breathing holes. The family believe it probably didn’t survive.
Ian said: “It’s exciting. You don’t often find a scorpion in the house. I was interested, which is why I put it in the jar. However, sadly I think it’s now an ex-scorpion.”
