Bat Cruelty on Youtube

[JoeyS]

Warning: The following video, which I happened to see on the news this morning, is not safe for work, unless you turn the sound off, which you don't need to hear anyway. The video was taken by some "students" at a college in Texas. Apparently, there were bats roosting in the dorm somewhere, and it shows these idiots killing them with brooms and other swinging objects. I hope they are all punished severely, but I'm betting that will not be the case. They could claim to be victims (could get rabies, yada yada..) and sue the school.
A part of me sort of wishes they do get infected with rabies. They could have just evacuated the building. This was low-down cruelty:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxN_47QI ... ed&search=

[Squirrel Girl]

I marked it as inappropriate, gave it the worst rating and posted a comment wondering if Michael Vick were in the video.

Geez.

[caverjules]

I think it would be a really good thing if everyone that could would go give the video a poor rating and mark it as inappropriate. There are at least six more videos similar to this one- four by the same user, and two or three by two other users. they populate along the side when you look at one because of the automatic search for 'like' videos.

Maybe there is some University official that they could be forwarded to...

Or even a State official....

In Austin TX, there is a tourist draw at the Anne W. Richards Congress Bridge.. they have what they claim to be (on a huge banner on the side of the bridge) the "Worlds Largest Urban Colony of Bats". Surely there are people who would be very upset by this among whatever group has protected this bat colony...

I gave each video the lowest rating and flagged as inappropriate. I hope more people will do the same.

[Phil Winkler]

I copied the link to the science folks at Bat Conservation International in Texas.

I wonder where the Resident Director was at this time?

How ignorant of them.

[John Lovaas]

Well, the poster's("dollasboi") name is Landon, he's 19, and it is highly likely he lives in Lanier East residence hall, which is where the video was shot.

You can call the TSU main number at-

(713) 313-7011

and the residence hall at

(713) 313-7206

I see that Dr. Desiree A. Jackson is the chair of the biology department; I suspect she is pro-bat; you can reach her at (713) 313-7778, or at

Jackson_DA@tsu.edu

I just forwarded the video to her via email.

I just put in a call to the Texas Dept. of Parks and Wildlife law enforcement offices in Houston as well.

Houston (North) 281/931-6471
Houston (South) 713/779-8977

the lady at the North office was concerned and was going to call the warden; the South office told me to call the TPW 800 number-

800-792-1112

and they were going to contact the Houston warden as well.

The Austin contact I spoke said the TSU does have quite an influx of bats at the moment.

[Squirrel Girl]

I just posted this up "off topic" to The Squirrel Board. Those folks are bleeding heart animal lovers. I'll bet they'll take up the cause. They kinda lean toward the PETA sort. I'm no where near as whacky as them, but on a few things I share some stuff in common with them and animal cruelty (like Michael Vick) is one of them. So I'll bet a few of them will take up the cause and write some letters, too.

Thanks for posting some details of where to write.

[caverjules]

thanks guys, for all of the great contact info and for being so quick in contacting the appropriate offices. I would like to do a re-post of this and include some of the info you guys dug up as well for Scott to put on TAG net and several other forums- would that be ok with you- do you think it is a good or bad idea?

[Teresa]

If BCI, a Texas P&W warden, and the school have already been contacted, the video doesn't need more exposure than its already gotten.

Reporting it is fine-- but there is no point to a witch hunt unless nothing seems to be done about it, because otherwise the video gets more hits, is more "popular" and some warped people think such notoriety is good. My .02.

[John Lovaas]

If BCI, a Texas P&W warden, and the school have already been contacted, the video doesn't need more exposure than its already gotten.

I agree that we shouldn't swamp BCI with call and emails. Of the three Parks and Wildlife contacts I spoke to today, only one showed any real concern. So it wouldn't hurt to politely continue to contact them.

I contacted the chair of the biology department at TSU because I suspect she'd care about the welfare of bats. I'm hesistant about bombarding the TSU administration with calls and emails, as there's always the potential for sweeping this under the rug- the heinous broom analogy is unintended.

If a crime has been committed, it is probably best that law enforcement addresses it, rather than the university.

There's no compelling reason to goad the video's poster, unless it is to get his full name out of him. His first name, and his unique circle of friends, seem to be enough to hang him.

If your neighbor has a dog fight in their backyard, and you want him busted for it, it is probably better to call the cops first, rather than walking over there and telling him you are going to call the cops.

[caverjules]

great- that is why I asked for opinions. Good points, and I won't repost the info or the videos anywhere else.

Thanks!

[Squirrel Girl]

If we get an answer back that's something's been done, then I'll post back to TSB that a solutions has been arrived at.

[John Lovaas]

For what it's worth, I've archived the video on my home PC.

If you Google "how to archive a youtube video", you find any number of tutorials- and online utilities- that will let you save Youtube videos in their native .flv format, as well as online conversion utilities to convert it to a more common video format.

If "dollasboi" wished to address any copyright issues, I'd be delighted to hear from him.

[Phil Winkler]

I got a response from Jim Kennedy at Batcon that he turned it over to one of their staffers that deals with "nuisance bat" stories all the time. They will definitely do something about it.

[Ralph E. Powers]

It's amazing to see how ignorant people still are about these wonderful creatures. Also kinda funny (not in a ha ha way) about how scared they were of the bats. Ironically the bats were probably more scared than them and were trying to find a way out... particularly when several of their numbers got killed... dunno if bats register that like we do (duh, of course they don't but they probably so know they're in danger).
Really a terrible thing to see. But a necessary terrible thing to see to know that educating people about bats is still a high priority.

[Squirrel Girl]

Speaking of the rabies and the TSU students.....



http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/hea ... 43468.html