"Time to shed our dated view of these nocturnal animals."
Bats have never really enjoyed good press. They are seen as dirty and dangerous, unpopular and undesirable. They are carriers of rabies and viruses. In popular culture, they are portents of evil.
Norma Monfort of the Island Garden City of Samal, however, has made it her mission to change people’s perception of bats.
They’re actually angels, she says.
Monfort is founder and president of the Monfort Bat Cave & Conservation Foundation, which seeks to raise awareness among policymakers and the general public on the life of bats, their habitat and their role in the ecosystem.
She also goes by “Bat Mama.”
A princely inheritance
One could say Monfort was born into the role. She didn’t choose this advocacy. Rather, she was heiress to a piece of land where the bat cave sits. “My parents used to be absentee landowners,” she told a group of journalists who came to the sanctuary for a learning visit on June 5, World Environment Day. “I didn’t really get into it; I just inherited the land.”
When she first started coming to the island, she saw that the people living in the area were charging visitors for money to see the bats. “I got angry, but at that time I did not know any better. I scratched my head wondering what I was going to do with the bats.”
Slowly, inspiration came. Sometime in 2006, Monfort sent letters to a couple of organizations seeking advice on how best she could manage the sanctuary in her property. Bat Conservation International responded, and soon Drs. Merlin Tuttle and David Waldien came down to the island for a scientific survey.
On the property was one big cave, 257 feet in length, with five openings. Early estimates pegged the population to 1.8 million bats.
The cave has remained healthy despite the limited space. The birthing cycle seems to go on all year round. Now Monfort estimates her bats to number 2.3 million—enough to be included in the Guinness Book of World Records for being the single colony. “I can claim to have the biggest brothel. My bats fornicate all the time!”
Bat benefits
Contrary to common notion, bats are actually good for the environment. They provide value to the region’s production of high-value fruits. When they go out at night, they pollinate plants such as durian and wild banana.
Monfort says: “When you think about it, without bats there will be no healthy forests, there will be no food, people will compete for resources. There will be war.”
Threatened, not threatening
In popular culture, bats are alter egos of vampires. They are menacing. In reality, they are the ones who are threatened.
The threat comes from the species that claims to be wary of them—humans.
Monfort remembers one time she allowed an adventure challenge in the bat sanctuary. Because of the disturbance, several bats were found dead. There have also been attempts to harvest guanos—bats’ droppings which make for very good fertilizer—in the caves.
“The moment they sense threat, they leave,” Monfort said. “And when they go out of the safety of their caves, they are vulnerable to predators.”
Still, it’s getting crowded in the cave, so Monfort’s next project is to construct artificial ones. Used container vans will do, she says, and scientists will help her simulate conditions in the real cave. “We are going to copy the temperature and other conditions in the real bat cave.”
Changing attitudes
Monfort’s appreciation of bats helps define her world view. According to her, bats are symbols of birth and rebirth. “Their upside down position signifies the need to transform, to let go of old habits or ways of life and to adopt new ones though difficult and painful. As nocturnal creatures they guide people through the darkness of confusion helping us face our fears,” she tells the BCI website.
In the same way, Monfort believes Filipinos should not wait for any savior to bring change. “We should stop complaining and simply become the change we want to be.”
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