(MY) letter - flying foxes

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Focus <http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/lifefocus/> The Star

Tuesday October 11, 2005

 

Have mercy on flying foxes

 

Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM) is gravely concerned over the unwarranted

killing of the Malaysian fruit bat species.

 

What troubled SAM is the statement by the Johor Wildlife Department Director

that flying foxes were regarded as pests and the issuing of licences as a

means of controlling them. Although there is a limit on the number of flying

foxes shot, is the department keeping tabs on the number of flying foxes

killed? Trigger-happy hunters are only out to make a quick kill regardless

of the number taken.

 

There is so little attention paid to the plight of flying foxes that in the

absence of adequate field-based data and proper documentation, some may have

become extinct before they were declared endangered, and the status of many

more remains in doubt.

 

Not only will this particular orchard culling fail to eradicate attacks on

the orchard, it will draw more animals into the killing field. Any

apparently large number of bats appearing suddenly in an orchard or township

is a result of animals being attracted to a roost site or food source.

 

According to Marty Fujita who did a study on the evolution, behaviour and

ecology of bats, her interview with hunters revealed that the bat season

coincided with the main fruiting peaks, and that many of the bats shot were

with young. Hunters had also noted a significant decline in the number of

these mammals shot in orchards, and increased hunting during the crucial

period could severely limit a population's ability to recover.

 

On the other hand, very little is known about the ecological and economic

value of bats. They play an essential role as pollinators and seed dispersal

agents and many plant species dependent on bats have known value in the

local or export economies.

 

Despite their importance to plants that contribute to the national economy,

these flying foxes are being hunted down mercilessly through large-scale

eradication efforts and habitat destruction.

 

Their extinction could have serious consequences for the many plants that

are dependent on them, the ecosystems and the economies they support.

 

Unfortunately, bats are considered fruit pests and under the Wildlife Act,

any animal which poses a threat to a resident or crops can be hunted freely

under this provision.

 

Protection of the flying foxes is urgently needed. Documentation of the

value of the flying foxes to the rainforests and their benefits to the

economy is essential to provide management and conservation initiatives.

 

The Government and conservation planners have to do away with misconceptions

about these nocturnal creatures.

 

They should also consider alternative non-destructive management techniques,

such as using nets or other methods, to deter flying foxes so that fruit

growers will not resort to killing these creatures.

 

*S.M. Mohd Idris, President, Sahabat Alam Malaysia, Penang*