"Moths!"

I had been very traumatized last month since the advent of giant moths in Singapore in May and was very glad when I could finally stop looking at every corner before I enter a corridor or go into a lift.  Just as I thought the tidal wave of moths has receded, I was rudely shocked over the weekend that they seem to be back again.

Unfortunately, this time round, there was yet another victim of a moth in my living room - its hauntingly beautiful wing was torn. I have little doubt that it's the act of the cats as this is not their first conquest. However, this is the only one that has stayed alive after a fight.

The moth stayed on the window for the entire day and I fear it may have been paralysed since the wing was torn.

However, finally it did fly off when we knocked on the window to check.

Yesterday morning, when I was brushing my teeth, I heard an eerie screech. I had a premonition that there's some cat fight going on outside but I didn't dare to check since it could involve giant moths.

Just as I was heading out, Ah Pa showed me that there's a bat lying on our balcony. Strangely, one cat guarded the balcony but was merely watching on. We didn't do anything as we hope it would fly away. And after a while, it seemed to have disappeared, to our relief.

However, in the afternoon , Cayen started to point to the balcony and said "moth! Moth!". All the adults looked and saw the Bat again ! It never left , it was hiding somewhere and by afternoon, it was hanging on the invisible grille.

They tried to "invite" it to go away by lightly nudging it with a stick ... But to everyone's great surprise, it started to hiss and snarl and flip his wings. For a rat sized bat, it was pretty scary..

A few subsequent attempts met with the same hostile response.

By now, my earlier fear that the cat might attack it like how it did to the moth was dismissed. This bat is so fierce that the cats visibly steered clear. At least now i can drop the paranoia about cat/bat fights and possibility of my cat catching rabies.

Anyway, back to the bat, it was with the final effort of a tong to pick up the bat before it would fly away, snarling before it did. And at the speed in which it flew to Shaw Plaza, it was clear it was not injured. I just hoped that it doesn't recognise or return to my unit again.

Anyway, just as I was about to update my fear factor list with bats topping the list, I opened the door to a giant flapping moth this morning. I had to retreat and attempt , retreat and attempt before I could make it out of the main door, into the lift.

Tonight I will reevaluate my fear factor list ranking.

On a secondary and more serious note, I wonder why there is a sudden invasion of these insects/ mammals. Then again, we humans are most likely the root causes as we drive the rapid clearing of their natural habitats through construction/urbanisation and also global warming (causing erratic weathers).

Save our Earth .. with every light you turn off, with every night you turn off the aircon.