Speak out for Mauritius fruit bats which are facing an unscientific cull.
There is little evidence of economic harm; there is little certainty of the bat population size (it’s probably smaller than thought); there are much better alternatives which will increase fruit yields.
See what the Mauritian Wildlife Fund say about the proposed cull – they sound like they know what they are talking about.
Cute bat! Speak out!
![By Luis Correia (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons](https://markavery.info/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/800px-2012-10-27-Mauritius_-_Pteropus_niger_-_Roussette_-_L2290C.jpg)
Dear Mark,
Thanks for putting up this piece about the cull of the endemic Mauritian Fruit Bat. It is claimed the bats are impacting upon commercial fruit production yet studies clearly show their impact is relatively small and there are other causes of poor fruit production. In some years there is so much fruit produced much is left un-harvested. The bats have become a scapegoat for poor fruit production management, and have been labelled as a pest yet they are the most important pollinator of native trees and spreader of seeds and fruits. Mauritius is justly famous for evidence based wildlife management, yet in this case there has been a major lapse in judgement and the Government are responding to pressure from a few and are ignoring the evidence.
Please help and I urge all of your readers to sign the petition.
Carl