YOUR VIEWS

QUEENSLAND Health is urging the public not to touch or pick up bats even if the animals are injured or appear to be dead.

Bats and flying foxes may carry bacteria and viruses which can be harmful to humans, including the Australian Bat Lyssavirus (ABLV); and as the weather heats up more bats are likely to be found on the ground.

It is very uncommon for bats to come directly into contact with people, but sometimes bats can become trapped in fruit netting, or on barbed wire fences, or can be found on the ground after getting separated from their mothers, or due to heat stress.

Each year in Queensland there are approximately 300 reported cases of potential exposure to ABLV due mainly to untrained people handling bats.

This number can be significantly reduced if the general public avoid touching bats and call a wildlife carer to assist instead.

The message “don’t touch bats” isn’t new advice, but its important

advice that people should take most seriously.

When people try to move a bat that appears to be dead or injured, that’s when they are most likely to be scratched or bitten. Parents should also closely supervise children, as a child’s curiosity may get the better of them.

Scratches, bites and bat saliva onto mucous membranes in the eyes, nose or mouth from a bat are very serious and require immediate medical assessment.

Only vaccinated people who have been trained in the care of bats should ever handle a bat, regardless of its condition.

Bats also move around in search of fruit and flowers and many Queenslanders have, or will have,

bats in their neighbourhood at some stage. It’s important to note that there is no evidence that ABLV can be spread from bat and flying foxes faeces (droppings) or urine to humans.

However, as with any contact with animal droppings or urine, people should practice good hygiene and hands should always be washed after contact with bat urine or droppings. DR HEIDI CARROLL, MEDICAL DIRECTOR, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH COMMUNICABLE DISEASES

I READ that the man responsible for injuring all those innocent victims in the Melbourne CBD incident (GCB 22/12) is now being

charged with multiple counts of attempted murder, and rightfully so.

The application of the law of this land is supposed to be impartial, being the same for the wealthy and the poor, and regardless of place of birth, and religious upbringing. So, according to the law, all thing being equal, then shouldn’t those who are at this moment plotting, to cull Australia’s population by 10 million as per the requirements of UN Agendas 21 and 30, also be brought to justice? KEITH WHEELER, COOMBABAH

THE call for Jarryd Hayne to stand aside by the NRL’s gender adviser Professor Catharine Lumby is bordering on ludicrous. Is she implying that everyone with a high profile facing a civil charge should stand aside? What a mess that would cause with a lot of companies left leaderless. Do we want to live in a country like America where the civil law suit is a way of life? ROD WATSON, SURFERS PARADISE