Bats

So to celebrate Halloween, the scariest season of the year, here’s a quick Q & A about vampire bats in Trinidad: (Q) Since vampires drink blood, doesn’t that mean they are evil? (A) No, of course not. Are humans evil for eating meats that contain blood? Look at the image on the left carefully, the only teeth vampires possess are incisors and canines. They have no chewing teeth. They couldn’t chew food even if they wanted to. Their diet isn’t one of choice.

(Q) Isn’t it true that vampire bats transmit rabies? (A) Only if they are infected with the virus. The female is this photograph, for instance, is very likely a healthy individual. Here’s the thing: rabies emergence in vampire populations is dependent upon population control within roosts. It must be remembered that the vampire is a natural component of Trinidad’s ecology; the effort of “control” is always to target ’problem’ vampire individuals, not vampire bats on the whole.

(Q) How do we know when we are dealing with ‘problem’ vampires? (A) When vampire bats start to attack livestock on a regular basis, or more urgently, human beings, then we are dealing with a 'problem-vampire population.’ The good news: Trinidad has a century of experience strategically reducing ‘problem-vampire bat' numbers in an ingeniously scientific way that only targets and affects a particular roost of the vampire species, Desmodus rotundus, not the species itself. The results: (1) Humans and livestock reman safe from rabies infection (2) Vampire populations remain healthy—very important. (3) No harm is caused to any of Trinidad’s other nearly 70 species of helpful bats that may happen to be roosting nearby

(Q) What about Tobago? (A) Vampires do not occur on Tobago, and rabies infection has never been reported there.

(Q) How do we prevent rabies re-emergence in Trinidad? (A) Well, we’ve been doing it for the last 80 years! There has not been a single, human-related rabies transmission in Trinidad, for 80 years. This is a better record than Europe!

(Q) How was this achieved? (A) This post would be too long for a proper explanation, but a very interesting historical account can be found in the book: “Bats of Trinidad of Trinidad and Tobago—A Field Guide and Natural History” (Gomes and Reid, 2015). The short answer: All the Government needs to do is continue to follow historically tried and tested protocols. And the protocols are extremely precise too; other species of bats (all helpful) are not harmed in the process. This is a win, win, for all concerned. Now, here’s the crucial question all citizens should be asking: Is the Government of Trinidad and Tobago, still funding the Ministry of Agriculture, Lands and Fisheries’ tried and successfully tested protocols that has prevented rabies infection among humans in Trinidad for the last 80 years? We certainly hope so, for Trinidad’s history clearly demonstrates that rabies is 100% preventable!