The Peppa Pig Episode Kids in Australia Can't See

Kids in Australia have reason to be wary of eight-legged creatures. The continent is home to some pretty dangerous spiders, including deadly funnel-web spiders, which have strong enough fangs to bite through a toenail. Australia's spiders have claimed a new victim, though: a few episodes of the animated British show Peppa Pig.

As Slate reports, an episode of the show has been pulled from the broadcast lineup in Australia for urging kids not to be afraid of spiders. The episode, "Mister Skinnylegs," first aired in 2004, and had already been banned from public broadcasting in 2012, but it recently re-ran on Nick Jr. through the Australian cable service Foxtel. Another episode featuring the same spider character, "Spider Web," is also banned in the country.

In "Mister Skinny Legs," Peppa Pig's brother George finds a spider in the sink and becomes its friend. Peppa is scared at first, but her father tells her, "There's no need to be afraid. Spiders are very, very small, and they can't hurt you."

Arguing that Down Under, spiders can, in fact, hurt you, parents complained that the episode was inappropriate for impressionable Australian viewers. After the outcry following the August 25 re-run, Nick Jr. has agreed to pull the episode from rotation in Australia.

While Australia does have some scary spiders, the risk may be a bit overblown. In a recent study, researchers found zero deaths from spider bites in the country between 2000 and 2013. (There was one fatality in 2016, but it was the first in 37 years.) Almost 12,000 people did end up in the hospital with spider bites during those years, though. On the other hand, the same study found that more Australians were killed by horses during that time period than all of the country's venomous creatures combined. Still, it's perhaps best to avoid telling kids to make friends with black widows. Watch the episode below at your own risk.

[h/t Slate]