There are a total of 1,300 species of bats across the world, which makes them one-fifth of all mammalian population on the Earth. They are pollinators, seed dispersers and pest controllers, and play an important part of ecosystem. They do the ecosystem a significant service by hunting and controlling pest pollution, which would otherwise become havoc for agriculture and civilisation. They are one of the most important mammals for the ecosystem.
Unfortunately, bats are being targeted, hunted and killed these days on suspicion of carrying fatal diseases ever since the outbreak of Covid-19 in China and its later spread worldwide. The hatred towards bats and their killing is increasing throughout the world as well as in India as the pandemic persists. People are getting panicked by their appearance and even burning them, spraying pesticides on them, and destroying their natural habitat in fear of the spread of Covid-19 or other diseases.
According to scientists, only one species of bats among 1,300 is suspected of transmitting Covid-19 to humans, that too, indirectly. However, the exact source of the virus is still unconfirmed. The closest match of the virus was claimed to be from one of the species of bats, according to Rohit Chakravarty, bat biologist and PhD student at Leibniz Institute for Zoology and Wildlife Research, Berlin.
He also said that the bat coronavirus does not have the potential to infect humans directly because the receptors and binding site of the virus bind to the cell that it is going to affect, which in the case of Covid-19, is our lungs. To this, the scientist claim, that there has to be an intermediate host and thus, the chances of a direct transmission seems unlikely.
All animals are susceptible of being carriers of diseases, not just bats. Also, all diseases of animals are not readily transferable to humans. We need to be more sensitive and aware of the same and not involve in mass killing of bats. All of them are not essentially carriers of diseases. This is the ignorance and unfortunate hatred of people that all bats have suddenly emerged as vermin to them. As a result, they get involved in mass killings of all species of bats, regardless of the fact that that is their natural habitat.
People from rural as well as urban areas are complaining civic authorities of bats in their surrounding areas, demanding them to be killed or getting involved themselves for the purpose. Reports have been coming from Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharasthra, etc. There have also been reports from Rajasthan and Mysuru of destruction of trees occupied by bats. People are even being called for their destruction of habitats in Bengaluru, where civic bodies and citizens have intervened.
All creatures of the world are an integral part of the ecosystem. When we attempt to eradicate a single species, it directly or indirectly affects the entire ecosystem. All animals are dependent on each other for food cycle and food web. Each organism occupies a position (or more than one) in the ecological pyramid as producer, primary, secondary or tertiary consumer.
When a single species is removed from the food web of any area, it affects the survival and existence of population of other species who are dependent on them as predator, while a population explosion occurs of the species that were being preyed upon by the former. This can also contribute to the state of bats in the ecosystem. Their removal from an area can affect the population of other species.
Among other animals, bats are a potent host to many diseases, but a direct transmission is very rare. Such a transmission can only occur when bats move out of their natural habitat, while such a condition can occur when their natural habitat is destroyed, fragmented and livestock farming at industrial scale nearby, which can create an environment where bat viruses can jump to other animals and then humans through them.
Zootonic diseases spread either through direct transmission — as in the case of rabies, SARS and Ebola — or intermediately transmission — as in the case of Zika, Lyme and Kyasanur forest disease. Such a disease transmission can occur when there is serious environment degradation coupled with other factors as stated.
Abi Tamim Vanak, Convenor of the Centre of Biodiversity and Conservation, Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and Environment, states: “But this by itself does not necessarily increase the risk of emergence of new pathogens. Only when it is combined with high densities of humans and livestock and where environmental degradation is also high, does the risk of pathogen spillover increase.”
The bats are having bad reputation due to more fiction than science, to which social media and irrelevant sources contribute. Bats and rodents are just as susceptible to being carriers of diseases as other animal groups. The emergence of diseases from their group is witnessed more simply because their population is also more as compared to other animal species. We are able to see a frequent emergence of diseases now because of better healthcare and tracking systems as compared to the past. Also, they spread most rapidly because of fast and rapid international travel and globalisation.
According the experts, disturbing the natural habitat of bats can result in more susceptibility of transmission of diseases to humans such as in the case of spillover of Nipah virus, Coronavirus and Filovirus to humans. The only precaution humans should take is that they should avoid direct contact with animal faeces, and avoid eating fruits with their bite marks.
People must be aware that if they destroy the natural habitat of bats, cut down trees they natural inhabit, and clear other areas of their living and survival, then they are creating a problem not only for the ecosystem and the bat species, but also for themselves.
Chief Wildlife Warden Sanjay Mohan has issued a warning last month that anybody seen harming the bats will be prosecuted. Rajesh Puttaswaaiah, Bat Conservation India Trust has even demanded that it is high time that bats be inducted into the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 and the fruit bats be removed from the vermin list.
Instead of fearing the bats, we should let them be and not disturb their habitat. We should not react to panic and ignorance, but must act rationally and protect the species that does so much of ecological as well as community service to us such as pollination, seed dispersion and pest control. We should protect all species of the Earth as they are an integral part of the ecosystem.