[Oz-envirolink] eBay's Gone Batty BAYES_00=-2.599]

[hugh spencer]

Subject: eBay's Gone Batty - Tell Them to Stop Selling Imperiled  Bats!



Protect Bats From Sale on eBay This Halloween!

Sign the Petition to tell eBay not to sell slaughtered bats as
"art."


As Halloween creeps up, the holiday's signature critter could use your
help.        Give bats a "treat" by urging eBay to stop allowing the sale
of their        bodies as so-called art:
http://go.care2.com/e/kGLP/wKa/odAJ

What's happening: Several companies are catching bats in the wild and
killing them for sale as “art” in glass frames. One small bat, also known
as the Short-nosed fruit bat, is a major target of this cruel  practice.
The fruit bat is an important pollinator and seed dispenser, and many
species are classified by IUCN as "vulnerable."

Bats already face severe threats due to habitat loss. Killing additional
bats for personal collections only leads to further decline of wild bat
populations.

Fruit and nectar-eating bats are responsible for hundreds of economically
important products including foods, drinks, medicines, timber, fibers, dyes
and fuel. Wild varieties of many of theworld’s most economically valuable
crop plants, such as bananas, rely on  bats for survival. Insect eating bat
species are natural enemies of night-flying pests that damage crops,
reducing the need for chemical pesticides.

Please tell eBay that unless they can verify that bats  sold on the eBay
website are 1) not imperiled in the wild, and 2) have  been collected after
they have died naturally, eBay should protect bats by prohibiting the sale
of their bodies:
http://go.care2.com/e/kGLP/wKa/odAJ

Thanks for making a difference today,

Hilary S.
Care2 and ThePetitionSite.com

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