Tainan Community University is looking for volunteers to care for juvenile bats that might require a little help during the bat breeding season.
Chao Jui-kuang (晁瑞光), a researcher who is part of the university’s environmental action team, on Friday said the breeding season starts this month and lasts until June or July.
Taiwan’s bat population is rapidly declining due to urban development, Chao said.
Photo: Tsai Wen-chu, Taipei Times
However, with 30 local species, Taiwan has great bat diversity, Chao added.
While the university has not yet received any reports of hurt or lost juvenile bats this year, Chao said that based on past experience, the university is expecting dozens of reports of injured bats or bats that have lost contact with their colony.
Caring for juvenile bats is labor-intensive and there were severe personnel shortages in the past few years, Chao said.
The university said it is planning to hold training sessions for volunteers at its campus in Tainan’s East District (東區) and the Tainan Old Waterworks Museum in Shanshang District (山上).
They would be headed by Bat Conservation Society of Taipei researcher Hsu Chao-lung (徐昭龍), it added.
The university said it would welcome anyone who is interested and would accept applications for caretaker duty on-site.
Chao said that some bats can eat more than 1,000 mosquitoes and other insects per day, which makes the valuable for humans.
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