A couple of weeks ago, Dr Rungsrit Kanjanavanit, a cardiologist at the Faculty of Medicine, Chiang Mai University, expressed concern on Facebook about a man in Sukhothai who hunted bats for consumption and also for sale.
Thai newspapers referred to the man as "the bat hunter", who hunts bats, field rats, cobras and beehives for a living. He catches several kilogrammes of bats a day, cooks them for his own use, and also sells them to other people in the area for 100 baht per kilo. The news reported that local people like to cook bats with hot curry or steam them and dip them with seafood sauce. Some people believe that bat meat can boost their energy. However, before eating, the bat hunter suggested that bats should be well cooked and people should avoid touching them directly while cooking.
Dr Rungsrit, who is also an environmentalist, worried that the news would encourage readers to eat bat meat for medicinal and other health-related purposes. He wrote on Facebook: "After reading the news that encouraged people to eat bats, I felt deeply worried. During the past three years, the world was on pause; the economy collapsed, but in spite of all this, a group of Thai people still have not learned from this experience. Humans should never consume bats and some other species of wild animals. There are approximately 10,000 viruses in wild animals that can transmit to humans. These viruses can cause more pandemics."
