I let one of them go.

[happydalek]

I found another one of those ugly, brown, shield-shaped stink bugs in my room.  Normally I only find them when they go whizzing by my ear in quiet moments, scaring the living daylights out of me (they're BIG and they make a horrendously loud and low-pitched buzzing sound when they zip by *shudder*).  When that happens, I have absolutely no qualms about hunting the little sucker down, wrapping the toe of a sturdy shoe in a tissue, then using it to crush the little bugger into a chitin-and-innards stew.  (You have to be careful, because squishing them is what makes them stink, hence the tissue for biohazard control.)  But that didn't happen today. 

I was watering my pet cactus Herbert, and I just happened to notice the insect resting on the underside of one of the blades.  It was just sitting there, its long legs wrapped around the sides of the blade for support, not doing anything.  It looked so natural there--a bug on a plant, as nature intended--that I was content to leave it alone.  It wasn't chewing on Herbert or making any aggressive action at all, so I left it there and went about my business.  A few hours later, it was still there, still behaving like a perfect houseguest.  But I knew I couldn't leave there, because if I did, I'm sure that it would have taken to flying around the room in the middle of the night, scaring me out of a sound sleep by plopping onto my hair (or my face!) or doing a low-altitude flyby that would have me thinking a man-sized wasp was invading my room. 

So I made my decision.  Opening my window a crack, I fetched a tissue and used it to carefully disengage the insect (which was about the size of my thumbnail) from the underside of Herbert's leafblade.  Then I whisked over the window and tossed it outside.  No real reason for it, aside from the fact that I just didn't feel like squashing it.  I went out of my way to spare its life. As the Doctor put it:

"Because she smiled, because he's got freckles. Because they begged. And that's how you live with yourself. That's how you slaugher millions. Because once in a while, on a whim, if the wind's in the right direction...you happen to be kind."

And now I really want to watch Boomtown. 

Comments

[alto2.livejournal.com]

Ooh, I've had a few of those this year, if I'm thinking of the same thing you're describing. A friend of mine calls them "prehistoric" because they do look rather ancient. Had no idea they stank, though--eww. Glad to do the glass-and-index-card method, then, to be rid of them. One scared the snot out of me the other week when it did a flyby of my arm while I was at my desk, and it took forever to get it!

Generally, if I can, I'll trap them and put them back outside. I'd want the same to be done for me. If I don't have a choice, I'll squash them, but I hate to clean up the mess.

[happydalek.livejournal.com]

Is it this? (http://www.insectidentification.org/imgs/insects/brown-marmorated-stink-bug.jpg)

I used to have much more empathy about critters, but when it comes to insects, it's just easier to squish 'em. (Provided they are stationary; if they're flying around, I usually try to lure them out a door or window--I have terrible aim and reflexes with a flyswatter.)

[alto2.livejournal.com]

That's it! The prehistoric bug of nastiness! Ewwwww!

[happydalek.livejournal.com]

Yup. Brown marmorated stink bugs. Personally, I find their appearance rather interesting, and the fact that they don't bite or sting makes them relatively inoffensive. It's their buzzing and their size, and their ability to creep inside the walls and windows that freak me the hell out.

And, as an aside, I've yet to find one that actually did stink, though everyone else around me has.

[elyssadc.livejournal.com]

Holy crap. In the past 2 weeks I've found 5 of those disgusting things in my bathroom. I had no idea what they were! Life is odd.

[happydalek.livejournal.com]

I've been contending with them all winter. They are great at finding cracks around windows and doors to crawl through. *shudder*