Letter to the Editor
I'm encouraged that the student from Brazil was interested in the Endangered
Spe-cies
UPDATE, but Im extremely upset by part of your response to his letter
about felids in the recent issue (Vol. 18, No.1 2001). You stated that felids
control pests such as "various rodents and bats." I am disappointed
that you would foster wide-spread
misconceptions about bats being pests, especially to a country where human
fear and subsequent elimination of important bat species is a serious problem.
Bats
are essential pollinators and seed distributors of many plant species, commercial
and otherwise, especially in biologically diverse areas such as the Amazon
Basin.
Bats also help to control "pests" such as many insect species that
spread disease.
True, there are vampire bat species, but most of these feed on native animals
or
livestock, and rarely pose a threat to people. Additionally, rabies is also
rare in bats,
being found more often in terrestrial mammals such as canids and rodents!
I hope
that you inform your readers of the benefits of bats, and encourage articles
about
the many endangered bat species in the U.S. and around the world. Please refer
to
the Bat Conservation International website www.batcon.org for more information.
Sincerely,
J. Thayer
University of California, Davis; Point Reyes Bird Observatory
Editor's response
Thank you for your commentI agree completely! Responses to such questions
are
researched and written by undergraduate students through a program with the
Uni-versity of Michigan. Unfortunately, the editors did not catch that slip.
Thank you
for pointing it out.