Online sales of a wild bat sold as décor threaten species

[Still Waters]

A fiery orange bat, its wings folded and tiny teeth forever bared on its fuzzy face, is mounted inside a 6-inch, black coffin. Its retail price: $59. Or, for $140, you can get one framed with its black and orange wings spread, deliverable in two days.

Despite declining numbers in the wild, hundreds of specimens like this of Kerivoula picta—or painted wooly bat—are being sold on Etsy, eBay and Amazon as jewelry, Halloween decorations, and jarred curios.

https://phys.org/news/2024-07-online-sales-wild-sold-dcor.html

[pellinore]

Shameful. Here's a better idea:

[KeithSwartz]

On 7/17/2024 at 4:20 PM, Still Waters said:

A fiery orange bat, its wings folded and tiny teeth forever bared on its fuzzy face, is mounted inside a 6-inch, black coffin. Its retail price: $59. Or, for $140, you can get one framed with its black and orange wings spread, deliverable in two days.

Despite declining numbers in the wild, hundreds of specimens like this of Kerivoula picta—or painted wooly bat—are being sold on Etsy, eBay and Amazon as jewelry, Halloween decorations, and jarred curios.

https://phys.org/news/2024-07-online-sales-wild-sold-dcor.html. 

A fiery orange bat, its wings folded and tiny teeth forever bared on its fuzzy face, is mounted inside a 6-inch, black coffin. Its retail price: $59. Or, for $140, you can get one framed with its black and orange wings spread, deliverable in two days.

Despite declining numbers in the wild, hundreds of specimens like this of Kerivoula picta—or painted wooly bat—are being sold on Etsy, eBay and Amazon as jewelry, Halloween decorations, and jarred curios. 

I recently found an interesting source related to online sales. The positive side of Purchasing Power reviews highlighted by some users is the convenience it offers for purchasing essential items with flexible payment plans. Customers appreciate being able to buy products they need, even if they don’t have the cash upfront, and the payroll deduction method makes managing payments easier. For people without access to traditional credit, this service can be a helpful alternative. It also offers a wide variety of products, which many users find appealing.

To be honest, I don’t quite understand how online sales are related to the extinction of this species.

But it looks absolutely cute!!

Edited September 14 by KeithSwartz

[Abramelin]

2 hours ago, KeithSwartz said:

To be honest, I don’t quite understand how online sales are related to the extinction of this species.

The bats are being caught as long as there is an online demand for them.

It's easy. You order one online for decoration, in SE Asia hunters catch them, stuff them, and then send the bats to Amazon who then send them to you. The more there are being ordered online, the more will be caught, the faster they will go extinct.