Talk:British teenager finds baby bat in her bra

What country is this in? --SVTCobra 13:57, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

UK Anonymous101 (talk)

Ok, but it was supposed to be a hint that something very basic in journalism was missing from the article. I guess that I need to be more literal. --SVTCobra 18:23, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

Hoax/Publicity stunt

Given the staged photos used in these two sources:

• http://new.edp24.co.uk/search/story.aspx?brand=EDPOnline&category=News&itemid=NOED07%20Jul%202008%2020:42:32:383&tBrand=EDPOnline&tCategory=search
• http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1033246/Receptionist-stunned-baby-bat-living-BRA.html

This story really stinks like a hoax/publicity stunt. --SVTCobra 18:36, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

This does scream hoax/stunt but not because of the pictures. They just scream tabloid journalism! The storey is that they let the bat go long before the press arived. All the same, I am suspicious... Blood Red Sandman ^{(Talk) (Contribs)} 18:50, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

The 'polite' term for publications such as the UK's Daily Mail is "Red Tops" because they generally have a significant amount of red in the title to try and catch your attention. In more common parlance they are the "gutter press". Tabloid is a newspaper format, but it is publications like the Mail that are best known for it and have made the term a slur. --Brian McNeil / ^talk 19:02, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

In this case EDP seems to be the originator of the story which everyone else more or less relied on.

Another thing, I don't know about the UK, but here in the US bats are considered to be prime carriers of rabies and if you come in contact with one you have to get rabies shots, which are a series of injections over several weeks, not a fun process. You can only avoid it if you catch and kill the bat and have it screened for rabies. None of these articles mention any dangers. It's not something you'd forget to mention if this really happened, but you might forget if you were making up a story. --SVTCobra 19:07, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

"Get me... a Sun, and something to read" pretty much sums it up. The Sun is, if possible even worse, but the same idea. We are less rabies-paranoid here in the UK. If bitten you might go for a check but it isn't compulsory, only when importing animals without pet passports. Blood Red Sandman ^{(Talk) (Contribs)} 19:10, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

Really? Rabies is 100% fatal by the time you have any symptoms. There is no test or way to check to see if you got it. Hence, rabies shots are mandatory here. I had a bat in my house once and two seperate health officials called and interviewed me to make sure I did not have direct physical contact. --SVTCobra 19:15, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

It's generally not a problem here. Rabies cases are rare enough to be national news. Pretty 'and also'-type national news, but there all the same. A lot of people view our efforts to stop animals bringing it in as OTT. Blood Red Sandman ^{(Talk) (Contribs)} 19:26, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

<unindent> The UK prides itself on being rabies-free, and the friendly tabloid screamers all said it would be re-introduced into the country if they dug a tunnel to France. --Brian McNeil / ^talk 19:30, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

Don't tell me! They dug that tunnel anyway, didn't they? Don't they know that they are risking the lives of large-breasted British teenagers? Don't they know that baby bats feel just like mobile phones when they vibrate? --SVTCobra 00:45, 11 July 2008 (UTC)