(MY) Letters to editor

[Guest guest]

Sunday October 16, 2005 - The Star

 

 

Bats a vital component of biodiversity

 

I REFER to the letter, " Bringing in bats will only compound problem " ,

from Dr Chow-Yang Lee (Sunday Star, Oct 2) and the reply from Prof Dr

A. Zubaid, " Bats just one natural way to control insect pests " (The

Star, Oct 10).

 

I applaud Prof Zubaid for the succinct points he raised, particularly

regarding wildlife disease.

 

Even in our enlightened age, bats continue to be maligned and blamed

for a plethora of ills when, in fact, they are an important and

significant component of biodiversity, playing a crucial role in

forest ecology and performing many beneficial services not known to

most people.

 

Dr Lee's letter demonstrates the widespread misconceptions and

misunderstandings still prevalent regarding bats.

 

His statement that " introducing bats to our urban environment ... may

be ... introducing another unwanted problem " , in particular, shows his

ignorance of the fact that we already share our urban environment with

many different – and benign – species of bats, both fruit-eating and

insectivorous.

 

(The original habitats of many of these species have disappeared due

to the pressure of human settlement and activities.)

 

The scientists' recommendation was simply to attract more of them.

 

Lastly, with regards to it being a " lame proposal " , in many other

places such as Europe and North America, where the use of harmful

pesticides such as DDT resulted in widespread ecological destruction,

people have come to realise that sometimes the only sound means of

eradicating a pest problem is through the biological approach, such as

the introduction of the natural predator-prey system.

 

 

SHEEMA ABDUL AZIZ

Canterbury

England