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Spiders infesting Florida parks

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., Sept. 4 (UPI) -- A Florida bug expert says banana spiders up to 4 inches long, common in the state's parks and recreational areas, aren't dangerous, but are nutritious.

The spiders are native to the southeast and tropics, and are most prominent in late summer and early fall, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel said Saturday.

"They are worth their weight in gold in the number of insect pests they consume," said Clive Pinnock, manager of the Okeeheelee Nature Center. He said they feed on mosquitoes and other insects that plague summertime visitors.

Beyond consuming mosquitoes, the spiders have another benefit.

Glavis Edwards, spider expert at the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, said the female banana spider is especially nutritious because of the egg mass in its belly.

Even considering their nutritional value, parks officials in Boca Raton and Fort Lauderdale try to relocate the spiders away from playground and picnic areas.

"I'm sure it would freak some people out, but they are typically harmless," Fort Lauderdale spokeswoman Shannon Vezina said.

Hungry burglar gets hams in heist

LARGO, Fla., Sept. 4 (UPI) -- The owner of a Florida Pizza Shack restaurant says he has "beefed up" security after losing 60 pounds of hamburger meat and other items in a break-in.

Whoever broke into the Largo store's walk-in cooler also stole 40 pounds of sausage, 30 pounds of Genoa salami, two hams, 40 pounds of provolone cheese and other products worth more than $1,000, the St. Petersburg Times said Saturday.

"I've beefed up the security back there," owner Darrell Youness told the newspaper.

Tuesday's heist was caught on a security video and took less than 4 minutes. Youness said the burglar may have had an accomplice, because he appeared to be talking to someone outside the camera's view.

It's likely the thief had a customer for the products, Youness said.

"I think he sold it to somebody in the restaurant business or he had customers for it," Youness said. He said it's not unheard of for people to offer stolen products to restaurant operators at discounted prices.

"Our motto is, if someone comes to the back and tries to sell you something like that, you act like you're buying it then you call 911," he said.

Drug-buy text mistakenly sent to cops

HELENA, Mont., Sept. 4 (UPI) -- Sending a text message in search of a marijuana purchase almost landed two Helena, Mont., teens in trouble when it accidentally went to a deputy sheriff.

Lewis and Clark County Sheriff's Deputy Leo Dutton thought someone was playing a joke on him when he got a text message saying "Hey Dawg, do you have a $20 I can buy right now?" the Helena Independent Record reported.

After realizing the message wasn't a joke, Dutton called the Missouri River Drug Task Force, and a detective pretending to be the dealer arranged to meet the sender at a north-end business.

Inside the business, the detective saw two teens and an adult male; Dutton said the detective called the number he had received on his cellphone three times to make sure he had the correct person.

The deputy said the detective then called the boys aside, showed them his badge, then asked them to step outside, where one of them passed out, the newspaper said.

The detective ultimately decided not to charge the boys because their parents decided to get involved.

"When the detective saw there were parents that wanted to be involved he took the right action and I'm really proud of the deputy," Dutton said. "Trying to buy drugs is a crime, but it's probably worse that they had to face their parents."

Restaurant stops serving 'dancing shrimp'

SACRAMENTO, Sept. 4 (UPI) -- Midtown Sacramento's Nishiki Sushi stopped selling live shrimp after dozens of people called in complaints to People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

Nishiki was serving the live shrimp bathed in cold sake, then encouraging customers to "squeeze lemon juice on their exposed flesh so they would writhe or 'dance' while being eaten alive," PETA campaign coordinator Amanda Fortino told The Sacramento Bee Thursday.

"Because we received so many calls, we contacted Nishiki and told them every animal feels pain, and we have the scientific evidence to back that up. They agreed to not sell the live shrimp anymore, and we really appreciate that," Fortino said.

PETA said a 2007 study in Northern Ireland found prawns "acted as if they had an injured paw when acid was dabbed onto an antenna" and "responded to numbing effects of painkillers."

"We were informed that it was unacceptable as far as animal cruelty. … People would normally get excited about them. It's kind of taken the wind out," Tony Malpartida, a bartender and manager at Nishiki, told the Bee.