Gauteng & Northern Regions Bat Interest Group
(GNoR BIG)
We are an enthusiastic group promoting bat conservation and our objective is to publicize bats as one of the world’s most fascinating and important animals, dispel harmful myths about them and to recruit supporters who can play a critical role in promoting their conservation, image and research.
‘It is unfortunate that the average person has a deep prejudice against the bat. Without looking or thinking for himself, he accepts a lot of absurd tales about the winged one, and passes them on and on, never caring for the injustice he does or the pleasure he loses.
The bat is the climax of creation in many things, highly developed in brain, marvelously keen in senses, clad in exquisite fur, and equipped, above all, with the crowning glory of flight.
He is the prototype and the realization of the Fairy of the Wood we loved so much as children, and so hated to be robbed of by grown-ups who should have known better. I would give a good deal to have a bat colony where I could see it daily and would go a long way to meet some new kind of bat.’
Ernest Thomas Seton, Wild Animal Ways, 1923
Mission
We are committed to:
- Educate people to understand and value bats as essential allies.
- Assist in advancing scientific knowledge about bats, their conservation needs, and the ecosystems that rely on them.
- Relying on non-confrontational approaches to facilitate win-win solutions that help both bats and people.
- Protect critical bat habitats and encourage others to join in our conservation efforts.
Activities
- Talks to the public.
- Weekend bat outings to interesting places, from farms to nature reserves, cave sites, etc.
- Answering bat queries from the general public.
- Arranging talks by bat specialists covering topics such as recent findings from field trips, bat-human diseases, bat biology and so on.
- Contributions to the body of knowledge on African bats.
- Training in bat identification and as bat workers.