A NSW reptile park wants the public to catch deadly funnel web spiders to help make antivenom.
Funnel web season has started, and the Australian Reptile Park has put the call out because of a shortage of spiders to milk.
But as eager as the Central Coast park is for the arachnids, curator Liz Vella does not want people to put themselves in danger while trying to catch them.
The park says it is the sole supplier of funnel web poison for antivenom production.
"Our milking technique extracts more venom than before, and last season our team of five milkers completed 1500 milkings," Ms Vella said.
She said the park was aiming for 3000 milkings this season.
NSW recorded 13 deaths from funnel webs before the antivenom was developed 33 years ago, and there have been none since it was introduced in 1981.
The spiders can be found across southeastern Australia, but the only known killer is the Sydney funnel web, which is found from Newcastle to the Illawarra.
The Australian Reptile Park website features a video with instructions on how to catch the spiders safely, along with a list of drop-off points in Sydney.
