The Daily Star- The Mount Lebanon city of Aley Monday celebrated International Bat Night, a global initiative to spread awareness about the nocturnal animal’s importance in the ecological system, according to the National News Agency.

 

Animal Encounter, a local NGO created to enhance awareness about wildlife, hosted the event at its center.

 

Japanese Ambassador to Lebanon Seiichi Otsuka attended the celebration, which is now in its 18th year and is sponsored by Aley’s municipality, making Lebanon one of more than 30 countries around the world who mark the occasion.

 

The event also served to introduce some aspects of traditional Japanese culture to the Lebanese crowd, such as origami, the art of folding paper into complicated shapes, and dorayaki, a type of pancake.

 

One should not underestimate the “importance of the bat in keeping ecological balance, especially in terms of eliminating bad insects,” stressed said Diana Abou Said, the event organizer and the co-founder of Animal Encounter, adding that some species also play a role in fruit pollination.

 

In addition to Aley’s Mayor and a group of environmental experts and NGOs representatives, many students and scouts groups also attended the event.

 

 

PHOTO: The Daily Star