Stop Selling Fruit Bats

• thepetitionsite.com / stop-selling-fruit-bats

Fruit bats for sale are packed into small cages on a street on the outskirts of Medan, Sumatra, Indonesia. According a local traders, the bats are consumed by local Chinese to cure asthma and sell for 20,000 Indonesian Rupiah each (£1.34). The price has doubled in the last two years as the bats become harder to find. Local NGOs are concerned by the declining numbers – the bats play a major roll in pollination and seed dispersal for many local fruit species such as durian, bananas, dates, figs and mangos

In Sumatra, Indonesia, fruit bats are caged and sold by street vendors, to be consumed as a supposed cure for asthma, according to Traditional Medicine.

• guardian.co.uk / week-in-wildlife-in-pictures

Fruit bats are becoming harder to find The loss will be significant if these bats are eliminated, because of their enormous value as pollinators of numerous species of trees, many of which provide economically important fruit such as We ask the government of Indonesia to ban the sale of fruit bats. Nine species of fruit bats have been placed with Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora on Appendix I, - species that are threatened with extinction and are or may be affected by trade.

Mr. Dana A. Kartakusuma Ministry of Environment

JI. D. I. Panjaitan Kebon Nanas

Jakarta - 13410 Indonesia

Tel: + 62 21 851 7148, + 62 21 8590 4937

Fax: + 62 21 851 7147, + 62 21 859 04937

EMail: dana@menlh.go.id, danakartakusuma@gmail.com

Mr. Salma Al Farisi Deputy Chief of Mission
Embassy of Indonesia
2020 Massachusetts Ave., NW Washington, DC - 20036 USA
Tel: 1 (202) 775-5216