Singeing a Fruit Bat Wing with a Blowtorch

singeing a fruit bat wing with a blowtorch, bat meat, bat wings, black flying foxes, black fruit bats, blowtorch, bushmeat, meat market, meat shop, pteropus alecto, raw meat, singed, singeing
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Singeing a Fruit Bat Wing with a Blowtorch

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Butcher singeing fruit bats wings with a blowtorch, at the Tentena meat market - Sulawesi Island, Indonesia

Before selling them as bushmeat, the butcher singes the wings with a blowtorch, presumably to kill any parasite that could be on their wing skin.

In many areas of Sulawesi, fruit bats (Megabats, flying foxes) are the main source of meat. They are hunted and caught in the jungle by locals using just fishing lines and hooks

They are then sold as bushmeat in local meat shops. Apparently there are plenty of fruit bats in the jungle, so they are pretty inexpensive on the meat markets.

The bat wings are always sold separately from the body of the bat.

The fruit bats are singed with a blowtorch, to remove the hair from their body. They also singe the wings, I think to kill parasites that could be on the bat wing skin.

Bats carry all kinds of viruses including coronaviruses, but fruit bats do not carry the COVID-19 virus. However all bats can carry the lyssavirus (closely related to rabies) which can cause serious illness in humans. But the chances of getting infected by this bat virus are very small.

More info about fruit bats bushmeat:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bat_as_food

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bushmeat

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megabat

Date & GPS location
Photo taken on March 5, 2016
Lapter, Central Sulawesi, Indonesia
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