A man from Australia raised an emergency response from the police after he screamed as he tried to kill a passerby spider to report what appeared to be violent behavior, media reports said.
According to media reports, a neighbor who was walking in front of a house in Perth on Australia's west coast heard a man shouting repeatedly, "Why do not you die?" And the scream of a child, prompting him to call the police by telephone.
"Several police units have responded," the reports quoted a tweet apparently published by the police in Wanerow, just north of Perth. The tweet was later deleted.
"The police spoke to all parties and told her that a husband was just trying to kill a spider," the tweet showed, apparently to a law enforcement presence containing a preliminary emergency call and then an update after 15 minutes.
The man "apologized for disturbing the police" and that "there were no injuries (except for the spider)" and that "it did not require further interference by the police."
Media reports did not identify the man or the spider.
Australia has one of the largest numbers of spiders in the world compared to the population. Biologists say a southern hemisphere is more likely to find spiders in buildings.