Invasion of the Stinkbugs

That is what those pests are called--stinkbugs; I have posted about them for the past two days, and now I can put a label on them. I had heard people complain about stinkbugs, but I never associated the name with the bugs on our property. Why? They do not stink. Apparently, that is because I have never squished one. But today when I happened to be watching "Oprah" (the show, and not my cat named Oprah), I saw a news commercial about the invasion of stinkbugs in the DC area. Sure enough, we have stinkbugs. So I watched ABC 7 News at 5:00 and listened to horror stories about stinkbugs invading people's homes. I also learned a few things: the obvious reason behind the name stinkbug, given to this pest which came from Asia in the '90's (if memory serves me correctly, that is what was said); don't bother getting an exterminator; and stinkbugs have no known predators.

Well, I found two seemingly intact, though very dead, stinkbugs lying by my front door, right after I finished watching the news. Apparently, my cats know how to kill these bugs without their stinky odor being released. Perhaps my cats possess a special skill. Should I think about hiring them out as stinkbug exterminators? Probably not such a great idea, since they take no prisoners, meaning nothing stands in their way--knickknacks, framed photos, curtains.... You get the picture. Nonetheless, I would like to nominate the house cat as the known predator of stinkbugs.