Woman named "Hero to Animals" for helping spider regrow its legs
A townsville woman has been rewarded for making the decision to save an emaciated huntsman spider with only two legs.
Elina Walsh has been recognised by animal rights group PETA Australia for rescuing and rehabilitating an injured spider.
Ms Walsh hand-fed the spider and took “Peggy” under her wing for a month until it grew its legs back.
"Initially my thought was she wasn't going to make it and I considered putting her out of her misery," Ms Walsh said, admitting she initially believed it to be a gecko or a bird.
"I did a quick Google search and found out that spiders can in fact regrow legs, so I thought I would give it a go.
"I am a huge animal lover, normally huntsmen aren't my favourite choice of animal but I kind of felt sorry for her and tried to help her out."
The Townsville “hero” spent a little over a month feeding the spider small cockroaches with tweezers.
In that time, the spider regrew its six smaller legs which became fully functional.
She plans to keep Peggy in her care until the spider has one more moult.
"Now that she has got her legs back she is able to hunt quite well on her own, but the ones that have regrown are quite a bit smaller," Ms Walsh said.
"With her next moult she should have full-sized legs again and I will be quite happy to release her outside."
PETA said there was no nomination process for their Hero To Animals awards.
PETA spokesperson, Emily Rice, said the organisation saw a post about Ms Walsh's efforts on Facebook and wanted to recognise her compassion.
"We take our hats off to this compassionate woman who displayed great care and respect for Peggy and went above and beyond to save her life," Ms Rice said.
Ms Walsh said the recognition from PETA Australia was unexpected.
"I am just happy that other people can learn about her story and maybe grow a bit of appreciation for these animals as well," she said.