King’s Cliffe family found scorpion in kitchen believed to be from Kenya

A family was left shocked after discovering a potentially dangerous scorpion in their kitchen.

The creature was discovered by the Burrows family at their King’s Cliffe home on Sunday (October 8).

Liz Burrows, 50, said: “We went to the fridge and it was just in front of it on the floor.

“My daughter looked down thinking it was a leaf.

“It then became quite clear it was a scorpion.”

Her husband Ian used a piece of paper to pick up the scorpion, which is a few centimetres long, and put it in a jar with breathing holes.

Their daughter Daisy recently spent a month in Kenya and recognised the scorpion from her travels, which leads the couple to believe it caught an unwarranted lift back with her.

However, with the 18-year-old arriving back to the family home about two weeks ago it means the sneaky scorpion would have been in the house unnoticed for the same amount of time.

“I’m just hoping it doesn’t have any other friends,” said Liz.

After searching online Liz and Ian, who both work as financial planners, believe it could be a striped bark scorpion or a pygmy thick tail.

The stings from these types of scorpion are rarely deadly but can be very painful, and in some cases dangerous.

Despite the potential risk, Ian was intrigued by the discovery.

“It’s exciting. You don’t often find a scorpion in the house,” said the 52-year-old.

“I was interested, which is why I put it in the jar.”

However, Liz said she ‘was less than excited’ and anxious about the risk to her family and the dogs, with her first instinct being to kill it.