Do bats carry deadly viruses? Yes. Would a cull help? No. Here's why

[littlemissmartypants]

Virus spillover events more often than not result from human activities causing habitat loss, researchers note
Bats are also key components of intricate ecological networks and their destruction would upset that balance

Topic | Coronavirus pandemic

Zhuang Pinghui in Beijing

Published: 10:00pm, 13 Mar, 2022

One summer afternoon in 2020, Beijing resident Chen Daming spotted a bat outside his flat. It seemed to be flying round and round the hallway, looking for a way to get out.
He would have tried to catch it himself and set it free out of the window, but not this time. The Covid-19 pandemic had emerged earlier that year, and Chen was aware of the theory that the novel coronavirus behind the disease could have originated in bats. So, he called building management to take care of the animal.
“I had to make three calls before anyone showed up and they bashed the bat dead with a dustpan just at my door. The creature squeaked at each bang and there was blood. I can’t forget the messiness,” Chen recalled.
Bats were once considered a sign of good fortune in Chinese culture, as their name sounded like the word for blessing. However, the animals have in modern times been shunned or even killed for fear they might bring disease.

Bat viruses being studied in Cambodia to gain new coronavirus pandemic insights
More than 200 viruses from almost all viral families have been isolated in bats, suggesting they might harbour a substantial diversity of viruses that are zoonotic, or capable of being transmitted from animals to humans. These include potentially deadly pathogens like the rabies, Nipah and Ebola viruses. However, these are thought to need an intermediate animal host to be transmitted to humans.
Scientists worry that unfounded fears about virus origins could lead to the culling of bats -which will not eliminate disease but will surely damage the ecological system.
Such moves are not uncommon. In the aftermath of the Sars, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, outbreak in 2002 and 2003, about 10,000 civet cats, badgers and raccoon dogs were culled within a week in China’s southern Guangdong province.

Much more at the link.

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3169976/do-bats-carry-deadly-viruses-yes-would-cull-help-no-heres-why

Media bias check here:

https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/south-china-morning-post/

[brer cat]

1. You come up with some fascinating articles, lmsp.

[littlemissmartypants]

3. Thank you, brer cat. So nice of you to say so. ❤

[in2herbs]

2. During the pandemic I watched a PBS show that explained that bats carry COVID without

getting it because they have a "super-charged" immune system, always fighting to keep infection out before it can breach and make bats ill. Humans, on the other hand, have an immune system that responds only after an infection has breached and is attacking and making us ill.

We can't kill bats, they are too necessary in controlling the flying insect population.

[littlemissmartypants]

4. I have a barn that's loft is home to a bat family.

At twilight they come out for their nightly feast. It's spellbinding to watch them dip and dive through the air with the most incredible logistical precision. Sometimes, I find myself gasping when I think they're going to collide and they never do.

I can't imagine how awful the Insect problem would be here on the farm without them.

Thanks for the reply, in2herbs.❤