Venomous scorpion sneaks into Owen Sound woman's bedroom

A woman in southern Ontario made a late-night call to police tocorral a potentially dangerous intruder a 20-centimetre scorpionthat had made its way into her bedroom.

Police in Owen Sound said the venomous critter had escaped fromanother resident's home Tuesday, a day before it appeared in thewoman's apartment. They released this video Thursday:

The neighbour had "rescued" the scorpion from another friend onSaturday, believing it was being mistreated, police said.

Staff Sgt. Mike Daze said officers used a shovel to "scoop itup" into a plastic container.

Local bylaws forbid keeping scorpions as pets so the creaturewill be turned over to animal control, which will determine whetherto send it to a zoo or other facility, he said.

The scorpion has its stinger but Daze said it's unclear how muchvenom it had left.

"By nature, like any of those types of animals, whether it's asnake or a scorpion, is there potential for someone to be hurt? Surethere is," he said.

"The degree of that in this particular animal, I don't know."

The woman and another resident were heading off to bed when theysaw what they thought was a "black insect of some sort" on theirbedroom floor, Daze said.

On closer inspection, they realized it was a scorpion andcornered it until police arrived, he said.

"They were scared, I think they were taken aback, and they didthe right thing," the staff sergeant said.

"It's what nightmares are made of, isn't it?"

Last month, a woman in Brockville, Ont., called police afterwaking up to the sight of a large snake in her bedroom.

The snake slithered away before officers arrived but was capturedshortly afterward. Local media said it belonged to another tenantwho had lost track of the pet months ago.