the Mariana fruit bat and Pagan Island need you!

I have been traveling recently and so I am still catching up as one always does for a few days after their return home.  Amid the various e-mails was one from the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology (SICB) about a conservation issue I thought I should mention here.  To quote the letter directly:  "The government of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands is considering a proposal from Japanese investors to lease nearly one-fourth of Pagan Island as a dumping ground for tons of tsunami debris.  Pagan Island hosts much of the endemic flora and fauna of the Mariana Islands, including several threatened and endangered species." 

One of the species on the island is the endangered Mariana fruit bat (Pteropus mariannus) (picture below).  These bats have already been reduced in numbers both due to consumption by humans, introduction of predators to islands and may suffer from bioaccumulation of DDT in their food sources.  In Guam this bat went from 60,000 individuals (historical estimates) to fewer than 200 today (re- Paul Alan Cox and Oliver Sacks). 

***This is by no means the only species that would be impacted by the proposal.

Please see the information at the link below regarding a petition to stop this from happening.  There are already over 3,000 signatures but more are needed.  You can sign the petition by going here: http://savepaganisland.org/ (a banner on the upper right hand of the page will allow you to sign) and read more about the biodiversity of this island.  It only takes a second to sign.  Also if you can pass this along it would be much appreciated!

Thanks for your time and accept my apology for the soapbox moment but I think this was information worth sharing...