Keonjhar: Despite bats earning notoriety as being responsible for COVID-19, these mammals are being taken care of at Taramakant village under Bansapal block in Keonjhar district.
The village offers an unusual visual of hundreds of bats hanging upside down from the branches of an ancient huge banyan tree near the village shrine.
The village’s presiding deity is ‘Kandeibira’ and she is worshipped at the shrine. The tree provides a natural canopy to the place.
According to some elderly villagers, these winged mammals have made the tree their house for many years. “We believe that these bats are closely associated with our presiding deity. It is even believed that they are parts of the deity. So we never ever think of causing any harm to them,” they observed.
For the villagers’ love and reverence towards these mammals, the village is well known as a protected place for bats in the locality. The village is so famous for this strong reason that even poachers from nearby villages know better than to cause any harm to the bats, let alone poaching them.
According to local resident Ramchandra Behera, the villagers have a deep belief that if their village has not been affected by any natural calamities as yet it is only due to the village’s presiding deity. “She is protecting us and the bats,” he added.
“Whatever may be the reasons, the bats have found a safer place. Their population is also increasing. The villagers are to be lauded for their efforts. If the forest department identify such areas where a kind of faith is associated with birds and animals and take initiative to protect them, it would make a difference in conserving them,” observed honorary animal conservator Harekrushna Mohanta.
PNN