A Florida woman has been charged with misdemeanor animal cruelty and theft for stealing her roommate’s spider and drowning it in soda, according to police.
Ilena Renae Rasmussen, 43, of Crestview, Florida, was arrested on Monday for the death of the jumping spider.
Police were alerted to the case on July 15, when Rasmussen’s roommate said she found the spider and its enclosure missing.
“The defendant texted the victim admitting to drowning the jumping spider in Ginger Ale,” the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office wrote in an affidavit obtained by The Miami Herald.
The spider was reportedly valued at $70 but the motive for the drowning remains unclear.
The Independent has contacted Rasmussen for comment.
Jumping spiders, or salticids, can jump from plant to plant, and can range from 1mm to 23 mm in length, according to the University of Florida.
The spiders, sometimes kept as pets, are of “considerable beneficial importance in the control of flies, mosquitoes, and other human pests,” per U of F, and like to habituate in man-made structures with lots of lights, where they can capture insects.
