Bats and belief: A sequential qualitative study in Thailand

Kanokwan Suwannarong; Karnsunaphat Balthip; Phitsanuruk Kanthawee; Kangsadal Suwannarong; Santisith Khiewkhern; Cecilia Lantican; Thanomsin Ponlap; Nisachon Bupha; Alongkorn Amonsin

doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2020.e04208

Bats and belief: A sequential qualitative study in Thailand

Heliyon. 2020 Jun 20;6(6):e04208. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2020.e04208. eCollection 2020 Jun.

Authors

Kanokwan Suwannarong¹, Karnsunaphat Balthip², Phitsanuruk Kanthawee³, Kangsadal Suwannarong⁴, Santisith Khiewkhern⁵, Cecilia Lantican⁶, Thanomsin Ponlap⁶, Nisachon Bupha⁷, Alongkorn Amonsin¹

Affiliations

¹ Center of Excellence for Emerging and Re-emerging Infectious Diseases in Animals, Faculty of Veterinary Science, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand.
² Faculty of Nursing, Prince of Songkla University, Songkhla Province, Thailand.
³ School of Health Science, Mae Fah Luang University, Chiang Rai, Thailand.
⁴ The Office of Disease Prevention and Control 7 Khon Kaen, Khon Kaen, Thailand.
⁵ Faculty of Public Health, Mahasarakham University, Mahasarakham Province, Thailand.
⁶ SUPA71 Co., Ltd, Bangkok, Thailand.
⁷ Faculty of Nursing, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen Province, Thailand.

Abstract

Bats are wildlife and distribute globally. In Thailand, there are hundreds of bat species in different locations within four regions. However, few motivations and influences for having contact with bats have been documented. This sequential qualitative study was conducted in ten provinces representing the four regions of Thailand from September 2016 to June 2017. The study was designed to obtain information on villagers' attitudes, perceptions, beliefs and cultural contexts in relation to bats. Focus group discussions (FGDs) were conducted with 305 respondents. Of these respondents, 142 (46.6%) reported coming into contact with bats through various activities, such as hunting, eating, cooking, collecting bat guano, cleaning bat feces, and finding carcasses in houses and communities. Villagers called bats by different names in different regions. They reported having been in contact with bats in different ways based on occupations, bat species, bat habitats, attitudes, perceptions, beliefs toward bats, and cultural contexts. Villagers in the northern and northeastern regions reported having regularly eaten bats. In contrast, the respondents in the central region did not eat bats due to local norms, religious beliefs, and regulations. By ethnicity, the Blu and Thai Dum groups reported coming into contact with and eating bats more often than the Thais. Our results provide evidence-based information on the human-bat interface in different regions in Thailand. The results of this qualitative study could be useful for strategic planning of proper education and interventions for bat conservation, bat contact behavior, and risk of bat-borne diseases among villagers in the future.

Keywords: Attitude; Bat; Belief; Conservation; Contact; Health sciences; Infectious disease; Interface; Perception; Public health; Religion; Sociology; Thailand.