Nature Park Medvednica celebrates every year the International Bat Night.
Zagreb, August 25th - The International Bat Night is a popular annual event to draw public awareness to threatened bat populations in Europe. It is hosted by local nature conservation organisations and attracts a number of ecologically interested people, families and children.
The first European Bat Nights were arranged in the 1990s in Poland and France. Since 1997 the Bat Night is organised under the auspices of the Agreement on the Conservation of Populations of European Bats (EUROBATS). Today the event takes place in several cities and regions in more than 30 countries throughout Europe. It is traditionally held on the last weekend of August, but the definite choice of the date is left to the organisers.
Bat Night 2018 - Photo by Nature Park Medvednica
On the last Saturday of August, in front of Veternica Cave and the mountain lodge Glavica, the annual celebration of the International Bat’s Night takes place – the event in which bats are starring throughout Europe. These fans of darkness, little known and rarely acknowledged, have been gravely endangered everywhere, even though they are the significant indicators of the quality and preservation of environment. International Bat Night was established to help promote the good image of bats, and to help start creating some clarity on the facts about them.
This year on 25th of August we celebrated International Bat Night in Veternica cave, in Nature Park Medvednica, Croatia. Our traditional collaborators and dear guests helped us celebrate this important date for nature protection are the Zagreb ZOO, Maksimir Park Public Institution, Croatian Biospeleological Society, Zagreb Station of the Croatian Mountain Rescue Service, and the association Tragus. This year, they presented their work on bat research and protection. They all helped to educate visitors about bat nutrition and flight, the usefulness of bats in nature, threats that they face and many other bat-related topics.
Nature Park Medvednica stand at Bat Night 2018 - Photo by Nature Park Medvednica
There were many interesting workshops and educational games for children and guided tours to the Veternica cave organized. Those who grow fond of our cute bats of Veternica even had a chance of adopting a bat.
This was also a good chance to inform visitors about sustainable tourism and CEETO - Central Europe EcoTourism: Tools for nature protection "project and an opportunity to distribute leaflets to visitors.
