“A special event has been help to deal with increasing concerns about the level of bat crime in Cornwall.

Cornwall Bat Group, a group within the Cornwall Wildlife Trust, funded a training session for police wildlife crime officers in Cornwall, an event jointly hosted with the Devon Bat Group at Roadford Reservoir.

There police officers from Devon, Cornwall, Dorset and Somerset met with members of Cornwall and Devon bat groups to discuss bats and bat crime.

Pete Charleston, investigations officer with the Bat Conservation Trust (BCT), talked about bat persecution and explained that all UK bats and their roosts are legally protected.

Of the 11,000 calls to BCT every year, about 300 are those relate to bat crime but very few lead to successful prosecutions.

Police officers were told about dangers to bats. As well as bats being vulnerable to attacks by cats and large birds, their biggest threat is humans.”

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Author: John Williams
Source: The Cornishman