Posted on 06/09/2002 1:44:06 PM PDT by Willie Green
Edited on 09/03/2002 4:50:36 AM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
MEXICO CITY -- Even as swarms of monarch butterflies flutter back to the United States from their winter home in Mexico, another less-loved but equally large migration has winged its way north: tens of millions of Mexican bats.
U.S. schoolchildren fascinated by the orange-and-black butterflies might not go quite so gaga over a wrinkle-nose little flying rodent like the Mexican free-tail bat, now summering in caves and under bridges in a broad stretch of the Southwest from California to Louisiana.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsday.com ...
This is no joking matter, man.
The maternity roosts for these poor little critters are located in the United States!!! (Source)
Therefor, these misnamed "Mexican" bats are actually natural born AMERICAN BATS that are being maltreated and slaughtered when they travel to Mexico for the winter.
We need to STOP this Mexican abuse of OUR wildlife!!!
Most bats are truely harmless and actually beneficial little critters.
It would be nice if more people, like you, would build more bat-houses to help compensate for the loss of caves, old barns, etc. where they used to hang-out.
OTOH, there is a legitimate concern about bats being a carrier of rabies, so one needs to be careful that children & pets don't get too curious around these critters.
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