The Mauritius fruit bats (aka flying foxes) play a key role in their ecosystem as pollinators and seed dispersers – and now they’re in grave danger. Each night, hundreds of these bats are being killed, until the government eliminates up to 18,000!
Bat experts across the world need your help to halt this horrendous act from continuing. Please directly email the Prime Minister and President of Mauritius and let them know how terrible and ineffective this cull is. Below is a letter you can easily copy and paste. We can stop the killing, but we must stand together to do it!
Hon. Prime Minister,
Sir Aneerood Jugnauth
Fax: +230 211 7907
Email: privateoffice@govmu.org
President of the Republic of Mauritius,
Hon. Dr. Ameenah Gurib-Fakim
Fax: +230 464 5370
Email: president@govmu.org
To Prime Minister Aneerood Jugnauth and President Ameenah Gurib-Fakim:
I am writing to urge you to do everything in your power to help stop your government’s mass cull of Mauritius fruit bats. Killing 18,000 of these unique creatures would be a completely unnecessary and highly regrettable move and will risk extinction for this already threatened species.
Five ways this cull is unethical, ineffective, and senseless:
- The reporting of deaths is dubious at best; there is a good chance that more than the quoted 18,000 bats will be killed as a result of this poor policy decision.
- We are currently in maternity season for Mauritian flying fox. This means that expecting mothers and their babies are being killed, and many other orphans left to fend for themselves.
- By backing this cull, the Mauritian government stands to tarnish its otherwise good environmental record in the eyes of the international community, which could potentially impact the nation’s ecotourism industry.
- There are many alternatives that can be implemented: the usage of nets to protect crops has proven to work in Thailand, Australia, and other nations.
- The cull will cause a vulnerable species to become an endangered species almost over night according to the IUCN.
Please — help your government find a pathway to nonlethal options. We must not let the Mauritius fruit bat be wiped out as the result of poor wildlife management.
Sincerely,
The post Every Night Hundreds of Bats are Dying: Please Help Us Stop The Killing appeared first on #SaveTheBats.