'Save-the-bats' campaign turns National Museum project upside
\ndown<\/p>\n
By Sheri Prasso<\/p>\n
PHNOM PENH (AFP): "Save the bats" is not an often-heard cry of
\nthe world's conservationists, who tend to promote the cuddly
\npanda, colorful tiger and soulful whale for their cause.<\/p>\n
But Cambodia has a bat colony termed so "unique and
\nremarkable" by a recent study that it ranks among the most
\nimportant in the world. From the rafters of Cambodia's treasured
\nNational Museum, housing ancient masterpieces from the golden age
\nof Khmer civilization, hang the highest density of bats known to
\ninhabit a man-made structure anywhere.<\/p>\n
More than four rare species live among the 1.5 million to two
\nmillion bats, who by day cling in bunches from the museum roof
\nlike broken umbrellas and by night swarm the skies around the
\nneighboring Royal Palace like macabre creatures from a freaky
\nAlfred Hitchcock film. They include a new species never seen
\nbefore, recently dubbed the Cambodian Free-Tailed Bat.<\/p>\n
The problem is, they defecate on the sandstone sculptures.<\/p>\n
And the acid in their excrement is wearing away the delicate
\nfeatures of Cambodia's most-precious national treasures, as well
\nas electrical wires whose worn states cause the lights to flicker
\nand leave the museum vulnerable to fire.<\/p>\n
"It has been a bizarre saga," Australian Ambassador John
\nHolloway, whose country volunteered to replace the museum roof
\nand suspended ceiling, said in an interview. "The bats have been
\nan obvious complication in what they do to the ceiling."<\/p>\n
The ceiling is in danger of collapse due to accumulated bat
\nguano, and its cracks allow a constant rain of fine, putrid
\nexcrement particles that penetrate the nostrils and rest on the
\ntongues of visitors attempting to view the great Khmer works.<\/p>\n
Enough<\/p>\n
Falling lice from the creatures above ruined the visit last
\nyear of a Thai princess, who began scratching uncomfortably while
\nbeing escorted through the galleries. That's when the Cambodian
\nmuseum curators decided enough was enough.<\/p>\n
But a study undertaken by an Australian government-funded
\nconservationist determined the rarity and importance of the
\ncolony and urged its preservation.<\/p>\n
Now it will take an estimated US$1 million -- raised by an
\nappeal to business leaders by Australian Foreign Minister Gareth
\nEvans -- to replace the roof and suspended ceiling, line it with
\nplastic and cover it with removable trays that allow the regular
\ncollection of guano.<\/p>\n
There is financial incentive to clean them. A basket full of
\nbat manure, good for growing onions, sells in the market for
\n5,000 riel ($2). Profits from bat manure were what kept the
\nmuseum operating under the previously communist government, which
\ninherited the bats from the Khmer Rouge regime in 1975-79, when
\nthe winged creatures found in city buildings refuge from sling-
\nshot-armed villagers starving in the countryside.<\/p>\n
But plastic and trays won't solve all the problems, according
\nto one museum official.<\/p>\n
"Cats and birds eat them and leave carcasses all over, and
\nduring the dry season a lot of them die of the heat and fall all
\nover the place. If we don't collect the dead ones every day, they
\ndecay and it smells even worse in here," the official said.<\/p>\n
Cambodians seem convinced by the need to keep the bats in the
\ncity rather than chasing out to countryside palm trees where they
\nbelong, some for conservation-conscious reasons, and others for
\ngastronomic ones.<\/p>\n
"They're very tasty," said a police officer stationed near the
\nNational Museum whose comrades occasionally trap them in mosquito
\nnets when they want a quick snack at night.<\/p>\n
"Fried in oil is the best. Sometimes we make a barbecue also,
\nbut it takes longer to cook them," he said.<\/p>\n
Aficionados says bats taste like pigeon.<\/p>\n
- 30 -<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/save-the-bats-campaign-turns-national-museum-project-upside-1447899208", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }