Fruit bats, which play a critical role in controlling pests, have become a menace in the Jubbal-Rohru belt in the upper Shimla region of Himachal Pradesh, destroying a ripe apple crop.
Bats leave claw marks on most of the fruits, making these unfit for human consumption.
Roshan Lal Manta, an apple grower in Bhamnoli village on the outskirts of Rohru town, said bats are destroying a bumper apple crop in the area. ‘In some areas, there were reports of more than 50 percent damage to the crop.’
‘We have noticed the bats’ predation after a gap of almost 40 years. At that time, such attacks were common but were controlled by their mass culling,’ the octogenarian Manta added. Read Full Story
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