A woman in Wanette, Oklahoma, showed a bat, one of the many animals clients can encounter in an exotic, thematic Airbnb. The internet, fueled by the past COVID-19 pandemic and the recent Hantavirus outbreak, freaked out in the comments section.
The woman in question is Kamy Grant, and she is the owner of Safari Stayz. Her content revolves around showing the various animals available for thematic experiences at the Airbnb located in the city of Wanette, Oklahoma. While other clips were popular, featuring other exotic animals, the clip in question went viral, garnering 940,600 views, 97,800 likes, and more than 1,700 comments.
Calling the bat the “cutest little thing ever,” Kamy showed the winged mammal to the camera. The close-up showed the straw colored fruit bat named “Baldy” eating some of its food, while also resting its wings in the woman’s hand.
Described as the “most underrated animal,” Kamy provided some facts about it. A “super social” animal, bats live 15 to 22 years, and Safari Stayz has nine of them, each measuring up to nine inches. Fighting back some of the misconceptions surrounding bats, the woman also said that less than 1 percent of bats carry rabies.
Kamy proceeded to show the bat’s claws, which are used to climb up trees, an activity she described as “really cool” to watch, but “also kind of really creepy.”
After detailing that bats eat 150 percent of their body weight, she went on to call the bat, once again, the “cutest little thing ever.”
Internet Freaks Out Over Bat
While certainly with a bunch of sarcasm added to the mix, most users freaked out about the bat. This is, as mentioned above, fueled by the past COVID-19 pandemic, whose source can be traced to bats (albeit other species), and the most recent Hantavirus outbreak onboard a cruise ship.
“We didn’t learn our lesson, right?” one user asked. Another one commented, “Hantavirus, is that you?” A third one added, “People be just finding anything cute these days.”
Other viewers, however, kept the pandemic paranoia out of the equation and found Baldy cute. One person wrote, “Fruit bats kinda remind me of chihuahuas.” Another one said, “I love bats, they are so cute.”
The Oklahoma woman, given by her silence, seems unbothered, and maybe kind of used to the “freaking out.” After all, an Airbnb featuring jiraffes, turtles, otters, kangaroos, and even water buffaloes seems like a very memorable experience.
