Sick Tarantula to Have Surgery

A Goliath tarantula at the National Aquarium in Baltimore underwent a second CAT scan in hopes of saving her from a nasty infection. The prognosis wasn’t good. Doctors are planning to perform an operation to try to save the eight-legged creature, a member of the largest spider species in the world. The spider, weighing 2 1/2 ounces, is the size of a salad plate but also has an abscess the size of a quarter that is causing her to lose fluid. An antibiotic ointment had no effect, and another technique, punching a hole in her side to drain the infection, could kill her, said Dr. Brent Whitaker, the aquarium’s director of animal health who is to perform the operation.