A Chinese inventor has sent his patented ultrasonic flycatcher to an international organization, which he hopes will pass it on to US President Barack Obama as a gift, Xinhua reported on Tuesday.

Obama swatted a fly during a television interview earlier this month, attracting widespread media attention and a critical statement from the animal rights group People for the Ethnic Treatment of Animals (PETA).

That was pretty impressive, wasn't it? I got the sucker, the president said as the vanquished insect lay on the carpet.

It is not hygienic for President Obama to swat a fly with his hand. The machine can catch the insect alive automatically, said Hu Xilin, a famed private businessman, who is known as Lord of the Flycatchers in China.

The man, in his 50s, said PETA has shown an interest in accepting his fly catching devices and sending the machine to the US President.

The folks at PETA point out that in a statement that you can no longer refer to our President as someone who wouldn't hurt a fly.

PETA said on its blog that it had sent the president a handy-dandy bug catcher so future intruders can be captured and released outside, after Obama killed a fly with his hand during a TV interview with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

Hu's invention, which was patented by the China State Intellectual Property Office in 2007, is motor driven, and can trap flies with organic bait and an ultraviolet lamp, Xinhua said.

The Chinese businessman has accumulated 10 million dried fly specimens, trapped by the machine. He has also sent his flycatchers to Japan, Vietnam and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

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