This genius of the press is extra special, not for its difficulty, but for its redundancy. I found the same story carried on two separate sources, with different images – and both equally incorrect! I can imagine that it won’t take long for someone to point out exactly what’s wrong with these stories (hint, there are 2 things).
Here is the first from the Mirror.co.uk “Giant rare moth found in Devon”.
And the second from the Daily Mail online ” Rare Luna moth found on Devon…”
How do you find these things?!
Okay, the North American luna moth is by no means endangered, but I’d say this is not the North American species, but rather the Indian moon moth (Actias selene) – a commercially available species that is commonly reared by enthusiasts.
Bingo! It’s not uncommon for one news source to print something and have it picked up elsewhere – so when I usually find duplicates I ignore that fact. But this was was really odd because it was two separate articles with different material yet both equally wrong.
The nice thing about this series is that I never have to worry about finding new material; the media will always disappoint.
And you’re right, someone probably just reared this moth in the UK for fun. Their laws regulating things like that are not nearly as strict as they are here in the US, so it was probably the woman’s neighbor!