A herald journalist was held hostage in the office on Tuesday night by a very smug and vindictive bat.
As journalist Roxy de Villiers was about to leave, the bat knowingly and with malicious intent flew into the office to deliberately hold her up at the office for at least three hours.
The herald‘s security company, EPR eventually assisted getting the bat out of the office.
Following her ordeal, the Randfontein SPCA has compiled the following tips residents can follow in this kind of situation.
The cloth method:
• Other than Facebooking the entire ordeal in order to receive assistance from friends who you realise do not care, calm the bat down by switching off all the lights and anything that can make a noise.
• Once the bat is stationary, have a cloth ready to put over the bat to catch it. The cloth is there to protect both you and the bat from harm as the bat is small and you holding it probably feels like the Hulk’s grasp to the bat. Also, bats have rabies and the barrier is a safer means of handling a bat.
The bucket method:
• Now, if you are scared of bats and your first reaction was to scream and take cover, you can trap the malicious bat in a bucket as you would a spider.
• When the bat is stationary then take an empty bowl big enough to fit the bat and place the open end over the bat.
• Slide the lid of the bowl or anything that could create a barrier between the wall and the bat to coax it inside.
The noise method:
• If you do not even want to go near the bat then switch off all the lights in your home or in our case office and put the outside light or porch light on.
• Take a bucket or pot and make as much noise as you can it the area where the bat is.
• Bats hate noise and this will persuade them to leave and trespass and terrify another household or office.
The Facebook method:
• If you are still in disbelief that this would happen to you on a Tuesday night just before you were about to lock up then casually Facebook about the ordeal.
• Notify your friends that you are being held captive and handover the bat’s demands.
• Watch a video or two on how to catch bats.
• Eventually call your security company to assist you as you cannot put the alarm on with a wild, smug, and malicious bat flying about your office as it very well pleases.
Jokes aside, bats are endangered in South Africa and it is illegal to kill them. The best way to get a bat out of your home or office is to gently catch it and let it go — outdoors.
