Dear @nytimes @cnn @vice @newsroomnz @thescientistllc @businessinsider @bbcnews @LaVanguardia @diariARA @NatureNews @sciencemagazine I suggest to every one of you to carefully and honestly think and reply to a very simple question regarding #bats #conservation #virus & #ethics. 
"A casual family wth 2 lovely children lives in the countryside, near a cave hosting thousands of bats. They never had an issue with them and don't know much about bats... but now they've read your most recent news and headings about #coronavirus. What would they immediately do?"
Let me give my personal view as a bat ecologist "They would probably seal the cave or massively kill as many bats as possible. Some could hopefully escape, but the colony wouldn't definitely be back." But don't misunderstand me. It is 100% logical, and I would have done the same.
However, #Bats provide numerous ecosystem services: #pollination, seed dispersal, agricultural #pest insect suppression, massive #mosquito control, guano... but are globally threatened by habitat loss, direct persecution and massive #killings, #bushmeat and #ClimateChange.
I understand you aim to prevent #disease outbreaks and improve global human populations #health... but all your news and morbid gutter press only undermine long-lasting conservation efforts.
In the age of massive fauna #extincions we are living this is simply not acceptable.
In the age of massive fauna #extincions we are living this is simply not acceptable.
And let me add the most relevant question:
"If you use 1 paragraph to explain why bats are known to host that many #viruses and 1 paragraph to explain why bats are known to provide many #ecosystemServices... what will definitely make an impression in the general public?"
"If you use 1 paragraph to explain why bats are known to host that many #viruses and 1 paragraph to explain why bats are known to provide many #ecosystemServices... what will definitely make an impression in the general public?"
There are many examples of massive bat killings occurring due to virus-related fear spread through the news. See for example in Kitaka Mine (Uganda) where miners exterminated them by restricting the cave egress & entangling them in nets draped at the exit
wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/20…
wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/20…
If you are interested on bat framing in #virological research and you can always check this scientific publication recently published: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.11…
