Bat Cull

[meanderthal]

The Mauritius Government has decided to cull 18,000 bats, endemic to the island. Madness and very sad.

http://news.mongabay.com/2015/11/mauritius-to-start-culling-18000-bats-from-november-7/

 

[Pegasus]

I was lucky enough to visit Mauritius earlier this year.

Driving from the airport to the hotel I was amazed to see about 50 fruit bats flying by in the twilight - they were huge and a great sight.  However we soon got the impression that locals see them as a nuisance - the guide in the botanical gardens didn't even show us a roost. When we found out there was one we went back to find it for ourselves, was a lovely sight - will try to find a photo and post.

I recently shared a petition on ukcaving's facebook page which I signed.  Here it is:

https://www.change.org/p/the-honorable-president-of-republic-of-mauritius-dr-ameenah-gurib-fakim-sooradehoo-punchu-trilock-ujoodha-minister-of-environment-honorable-raj-dayal-minister-of-environment-sustaibale-develo-stop-the-mauritian-government-from-killing-fruit-b

Go on, take a few minutes save a fruit bat 

 

[bograt]

18,000 of a 'vulnerable' species  , that's an awful lot of night-time shotgun work !!, surely a more sensible solution would be trapping and re-location to an area that has seen a decline ???

But then again, they are probably charging folk such as a certain American dentist for the experience------