The Trade in Taxidermy Bats
‘Right or wrong – who decides?’

This brief overview is designed to explain how tropical bats are harvested, and the laws behind protecting bat species. In Great Britain changes in agriculture practice since WW2 and habitat loss have led to a rapid decline of bat species. Consequently, laws have been passed to protect these vulnerable species.

The situation in oriental regions is far different. Many species of tropical bat pose substantial problems for farmers, especially fruit farmers where bats can devastate crop production. Unlike in Britain where bat colonies are numerically small, in Asia bat colonies can number into the millions. Therefore, how bats are managed internationally is decided by species, location, commercial impact, and cultural norms.

Since prehistoric times Asian cultures have used bats for food, statistics suggest 30-40% of all fruit bats are captured for food, while about 8-12% of insectivore eating bats are captured for food. Where excessive populations require pest control, culling is carried out at the discretion of Government authorities. A flip side to ‘culling’ is that a very small percentage are retrieved for taxidermy which in turn provides an income for often financially poor indigenous peoples. The process of ‘bat collecting’ is Government monitored and taxidermy bats must meet standards of hygiene and disease control before export permits are granted. This involves extreme heat treatment to kills all pathogens (zoonotic diseases).

Questions of ethics have been raised by those rightly concerned for the welfare of wild bats and international disease control. Firstly, no CITES protected bats are sold by WOBAM. All the species offered on this website have been legitimately obtained through ‘pest control’ and would otherwise be destroyed or used in culinary dishes. All imported bats are issued with Government stamped disease control certificates.

Unfortunately, the internet is awash with misinformation concerning taxidermy bats. Inflammatory language is used to evoke a negative and critical response. Statements include ‘trade in bats is a major threat to species’ – ‘stop this frivolous activity’ – ‘ban trade in bats’ – ‘bats carry disease’ – and the list of misinformation goes on. As explained above buying a legally obtained, taxidermy ‘bat’ is not a crime and persons who own one should not be demonised or made to feel guilty for enjoying the aesthetic beauty and art of taxidermy. Furthermore, bats sold on this website are of classified as ‘least concern’:

A least-concern species is a species that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as not being a focus of wildlife conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. They do not qualify as threatened, near threatened, or (before 2001) conservation dependent.

The only species of bat which we occasionally offer for sale which is currently classified by the IUCN as ‘near threatened’ is Kerivoula picta. However, this generalised description is somewhat misleading as Kerivoula picta might be very scarce in one country – such as India and Bangladesh – but relatively common in Indonesia where when troublesome still requires culling. We await more scientific research data and will of course work with findings and any changes to legal status.

In conclusion, as entomologists and suppliers of taxidermy products we are extremely conscience of the need to protect vulnerable species. Likewise, we are conscience of the right to buy and own preserved species that are NOT threatened or under any legal protection. Of course, the common response by critics is to employ emotive language such as this is ‘cruel’ or ‘immoral’ or ‘unethical’ – such labels are quite literally without warrant and emerge more from ignorance and personal sentimentality than actual hard evidence.

In my forty years of working with wildlife my own experience is that most people have not been provided the full picture, and therefore lean towards emotive statements in defence of the so-called ‘innocent’ animal – a common personification. Ironically few people examine their own hypocrisy being oblivious to the vast array of connections between ‘dead’ animals and everyday life – be that a KFC or McDonalds while reclining on a leather sofa – or some new drug ‘tested on animals’. Sadly, taxidermy is an easy target for negative propaganda. A person should not feel intimidated or pressured by ‘woke’ social propaganda.

Ultimately, we live in a postmodern world where ‘ethics’ and ‘morals’ are subjective and relative. Therefore, unless the ‘law’ states otherwise the question of whether to ‘buy or not to buy’ a preserved bat is really a matter of personal conscience, philosophical choice, one that should be based in logic, reason and ‘fact’ not based on our emotions or opinions that can so easily mislead and oftentimes have little or no basis in reality.

Jason Wright B.Th., M.A.T.S

F.O.B World of Butterflies & Moths 2024