LogFAQs > #976709019

mercurydude posted...

These do a lot to keep pests in check. Yeah, some spiders need to die in a fire, like brown recluse and black widow, but a lot of them are either harmless or do more good than harm.

And I've encountered rattlesnakes in person. It's not like in the movies where they chase you around and try to bite you. They just don't want to get stepped on and will defend themselves if they think that's going to happen. They also do more good than harm, and a lot of the snakebite incidents are the fault of the person because they wouldn't keep their distance from the snake and just go away and allow it time to slither off.

black widows are mostly harmless because they don't live in the same area that people do. their reputation isn't deserved and the worst cases you hear about are because of allergies.

That said, people underestimate how resilient fauna ecosystems are. One species goes extinct and another will move in to fill the vacuum left behind. Invasive species are probably more destructive than extinction. A single invasive species can drive several others to extinction.