False Widow Spiders Force Four London Schools to Close

Left: File photo of a false widow spider and its prey, taken in a garden in Toulouse, France, on Aug. 8, 2017. (Pascal Pavani/AFP/Getty Images). Right: The London Borough of Newham, where the spider infestation has caused school closures. Google Maps

Four schools in the UK have been closed because of infestations of false widow spiders.

Schoolchildren in two primary and two secondary schools in London’s Newham district were sent home after the discovery of the arachnids, which resemble the far more dangerous black widow spiders.