From Gabrielle Tindall
Ian Anderson’s article reads like the fear and loathing campaigns regularly
launched by Australian rural lobby groups ever since fruit bats became protected species
(“Bats out of hell”, 5 December, p 40).
Anderson’s assertion that “Australia is suffering from a rash of `zoonoses’
. . . in almost every case, a bat features somewhere in the story” is astonishing.
The Commonwealth Health Department’s Synopsis of Zoonoses in Australia
lists 85 zoonoses, only two of which are associated with bats.
In contrast, there are 25 diseases which people can catch from cattle, and
yet they are allowed to wallow and defecate in watercourses throughout the
country with massive outcries from farmers whenever legislation to prevent this
is suggested.
There is a large flying fox colony in Bellingen; there are also thousands of
cattle. No one has suffered illness from the bats, yet cattle-related diseases
are rife. It is very disappointing that New Scientist has added weight
to the propaganda campaign that has meant farmers are once again allowed to
shoot the bats.
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Bellingen, New South Wales
