I am writing in response to the article (East Coast bats get undeserved hate, Sept. 15).
I agree that the bats have an undeserved reputation, and I acknowledge the fact that many species of bats are endangered. But I believe that the fear may not be the only thing causing the bad reputation since, if it was the fear, then snakes, spiders, even dogs would have a bad reputation. Though fear is a part of the bad rep it may not be the whole story.
I, however, do not know what may also be causing this bad reputation. Some of the misconceptions about bats are most likely thanks to things we have done, the habitat loss and the hibernation site disturbance could provoke them, causing them to be aggressive, which would be a part of the bad rep, though people don't seem to realize that the bats are aggressive because of us. Though we are not the only reason for their aggressive behaviour, we play a major role. These facts, however, have not been proven to be true yet, and this is mostly my opinion.
Ali Dufour,
Summerside
