Deborah D. McAdams / 09.10.2012 01:55PM
Bats Invade Newsrooms
Omaha and Ottawa hit
OMAHA, NEB. and OTTAWA, ONTARIO:
Bats are invading North American newsrooms. For the second time in as many
months, news crews were visited upon by web-winged mammals when one of the
creatures began swooping through the studio at KETV-TV, the Hearst-owned ABC
affiliate in Omaha recently. The staff gave pursuit, which was captured by the
KETV crew. The station reported that it was a first in its “55-year history.”
The bat was brought down when a staff member stunned it with a box top and an
animal control officer then captured it. (KETV’s video of the incident is here.)
CTV’s news staff had a similar experience in August, except they were live
on-air at the time of their first bat invasion. (A second one appeared later
that same night.) Noon anchors Michael O’Byrne and J.J. Clarke were on the air
when the bat flew behind them on the set. It was eventually herded out the door
by the crew. CTV’s bat invasion video, with a nice slo-mo of the live, on-air
fly-over, is here.