Vampire bats
Sir: Just in case anybody has been misled by Peter Levi's review of the Wildlife on One programme on vampire bats (Televi- sion, 19 October), we did not stake out the donkey as bait for the bats: as is normal in Trinidad it had been tethered by the farmer to stop it wandering off. Donkeys
do sometimes come in for such unremitting attack by vampire bats that their health is threatened. When this happens a vampire control team moves in to treat the animal and cull the number of bats in local roosts. We did not set up this donkey for the sake of the programme. We filmed it because it was already under attack and had come to the attention of the local control team. It was this team which directed us towards it. I would add that three years later when I was again in Trinidad filming another programme, I visited the farmer: his don- key was alive and well.
Adrian Warren
BBC Natural History Unit, Whiteladies Road, Bristol
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