With Only 20 Left, Australian Bat Could Be Extinct Within Weeks
The inch-long Christmas Island pipistrelle, which weighs about a tenth of an ounce, could become the first Australian mammal to become extinct since the Tasmanian tiger in 1930.
After years of unrequited calls to help the animal, conservationists have asked the government to begin an emergency breeding program for the tiny bat. Environment Minister responded by announcing breeding trials for a similar yet non-threatened population elsewhere to test the viability of breeding the pipistrelle.
Conservationists fear that it may be too little, too late.
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“Time is running out fast,” said Terry Reardon, former president of the Australasian Bat Society. “This month, next month, there will be nothing left to save. The pipistrelle is going to crash. I’d have thought it would be a bit embarrassing for a government to stand by and have an animal [become] extinct.”
The biggest challenge in saving the animal is determining the cause of its demise. Currently it’s anyone’s guess, but biologists believe either non-native predators or an unknown disease is responsible. Reardon estimated that it would cost the government $6 million to attempt a breeding program for the animals.
[Via SMH]Photo Credit: Stevie-B on Flickr under Creative Commons license.
Waste 6 million bucks on this?
Just wave bye bye to the little bugger and move on to something doable and useful.
russ
obviously you are a fu*&^wit with no sense of decency
note so self, nobody save russ.
Huh, dont be silly - all part of the investment plan to restart the global economy!
Bats have never done any place in the world any good. I’m glad these little monsters are finally going to be rid of for all of eternity.
Actually, bats have been listed as an animal that is very important for people. Bats help to pollinate plants that we eat, they eat insects that spread human disease and they leave droppings that are extremely good soil fertilizer for crops and wild plants.
>>Humans have never done any place in the world any good. I’m glad these little monsters are finally going to be rid of for all of eternity.
Fixed.
Sorry, Gav but if you actually buy into that whole “Bats do great things for our environment” Then you’re well on your way to extinction yourself.
Bats do about several thousand % more to help the environment than the average human ever will. Like you, Rutherfoo.
What makes a bat a monster Rutherfoo? Are you scared of them? Scared of myths about vampires and bats will suck your blood? Awwww… so cute. I’d approximate your age about 8. Mentally of course.
How about you consider the fact that bats are the only flying mammal in the world. That’s quite cool. But yes, Rutherfoo, bats help with controlling insect populations and fruit pollination. Many things control insect populations of course, but we can’t just go killing off each one saying, oh, there’s others that do it… otherwise before you know it there isn’t. That’s about the time you’d notice insects swarming over every inch of the planet eventually depleting all the resources we depend on with their population bloom. And just to further it, bat guano plays a very critical role in some cavern areas… supporting many invertebrates. Also, bat guano can be a source of paleoclimatic records… not to mention we harvest it for a variety of reasons. Bat guano can make superphosphate, which plays some pivotal roles in our agriculture.
To correct your statement, Rutherfoo, if you don’t understand that we depend on so many factors for human survival, then you’re well on your way to extinction yourself.
Of course not just yourself, people like you like to drag the whole human population to extinction because your an ignorant child who’s simply never grown up enough to care about anything that doesn’t immediately pertain to yourself.
Bats are very important to keeping the insect population at a stable level. I was in Brazil once, and where I was staying, I saw bats near my room. That whole trip, I never got bit by mosquitos, no bugs were in my room, and the bats were very pretty when you shone a light on them and watched them eat.