See bats before they become extinct

WITH SOME types of bat on the brink of extinction in Cyprus this coming Friday will offer the opportunity not only to learn more about this misunderstood animal but actually hear how they communicate during a ‘bat night’ in Palodhia village.

According to Kyriacos Kyriacou, head of Animal Responsibility Cyprus (ARC) and organisers of the event, the fruit bat especially is close to extinction in Cyprus. “We think some of them may have left Cyprus to go to Turkey because they can’t find enough fruit here,” said Kyriacou.

However, he explained that there are many schools of thought on the matter another one being that they are hunted because people believe that they are leaving their excrement on fruit but they only feed on overripe fruit. Even more appalling is that they are used as target practice.

Kyriacou despaired at the situation in Cyprus, saying that in other countries “they are seen as an alternative tourism.”

Fruit bats can also be found in Nicosia, Limassol and Paphos.

ARC founder Patricia Radnor highlighted that some of the main risks that bats face are loss of habitat through land development, loss of insect food due to pesticides and that in Cyprus laws are not enforced to conserve the various bat species.

Kyriacou pointed out that the event will “enlighten, educate and show people how useful bats are.”

The night begins in the Palodhia cultural centre, near the Melathron Agoniston EOKA, where videos will be shown educating people on the benefits of bats and how they feed among other things. The highlight of the evening comes at about 7.30pm when everyone will be led into an open area nearby to identify bats, listen to them and then watch them fly into the night. “They will be heard through bat detectors that transform microwaves into sound,” said Kyriacou.

The event is part of European Bat Nights.

 

For further information call 99 416852 or 99 499580

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.