diff --git a/PIL/SpiderImagePlugin.py b/PIL/SpiderImagePlugin.py
index 6730bd104..a821fcf87 100644
--- a/PIL/SpiderImagePlugin.py
+++ b/PIL/SpiderImagePlugin.py
@@ -267,17 +267,11 @@ def _save(im, fp, filename):
         raise IOError("Error creating Spider header")
 
     # write the SPIDER header
-    try:
-        fp = open(filename, 'wb')
-    except:
-        raise IOError("Unable to open %s for writing" % filename)
     fp.writelines(hdr)
 
     rawmode = "F;32NF"  # 32-bit native floating point
     ImageFile._save(im, fp, [("raw", (0, 0)+im.size, 0, (rawmode, 0, 1))])
 
-    fp.close()
-
 
 def _save_spider(im, fp, filename):
     # get the filename extension and register it with Image