Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - October 30, 2006, Winnipeg, Manitoba A10 Canada Winnipeg free press monday october 30, 2006 no anti crime superpowers for the Bat girl of Calgary zoo worker fascinated by creatures that scare others by James Stevenson c Algary ? the Bat girl of Calgary is As mis understood As her beloved web winged charges. For starters she does to have 1.9 million internet hits discussing her penchant for head to toe Span Dex and crime fighting by night. Instead she sports the Standard Green shirt Black pants and work boots. Holding elementary school kids in rapt attention is More her style. When not being used by the Calgary zoo each halloween to promote Canadas largest captive Bat collection she goes by the name of Cindy Kam. When she landed the unwanted role As the zoos Bat custodian 18 years ago Kam was quickly Smit ten by their Puppy dog faces and fascinated by the diversity of their More than 1,000 species. I found out How intelligent they Are How Friendly they can be if you just give them the Opportunity to Trust you and learn about you ? and they re very Good to work her theory of Why bats have such a bad rap is simple. They re nocturnal. Its a creature of the night. We re not a creature of the night ? we re not up at night so we Don to understand their in fact one would be hard pressed to find a night dwelling Critter that does to have an eerie stigma ? think of wolves and owls. The poor Bat has that and a lot of untruths to Over come. It does not suck human blood it is not Blind it is not a rodent with wings and it probably spreads less rabies than other animals like foxes and skunks. Bob Young a Bat fan and last president of the now defunct Bat conservation society of Canada says they get blamed for everything. One halloween he got called by a woman East of Calgary who complained that while she was head ing to a party dressed As famed latin Singer car men Miranda she was attacked by dive bombing fruit bats keen to get at her fruit stocked hair. Given that Alberta tends to be icy and cold by oct. 31, its hardly the tropical or subtropical environment needed to support any of the 150 different types of fruit bats. Every bottle of Bacardi rum. Has a Bat on it Young said. I think she probably got into that before she got Over to the in fact any of the 20 species of bats found across Canada should either be into their yearly hibernation or have migrated South by now. While All of Canadas bats Are insect eaters glob ally they re an incredibly diverse group with dining preferences that Range from nectar and fish to frogs and scorpions says Robert Barclay a University of Calgary biologist who a studied them for More than 30 years. One of Barclays biggest beefs is the myth that bats Are merely flying mice ? a misconception propagated in various languages. Their French name translates As shaved in German its fluttering they re not related to mice in the slightest said Barclay. They re More closely related to humans than they Are to ? Canadian press pfc cuts risk of Kentucky Fried coronary by Sharon Kirkey Ottawa ? fast food giant pfc is pledging to eliminate trans fat from menu starting today. By Early next year colonel Harland Sanders original recipe Chicken pfc Fries nuggets strips and sandwiches and nearly All other menus items will contain Zero Grams of trans fat per serving pfc Canada will announce today. The . Chain will do the same later this week. Pfc is the second fast food Chain in months to switch to healthier frying Oil. Wendy a said in june it would begin removing artery damaging trans fats from its Fries and Chicken in August. Rfcs announcement is further evidence that companies can do this and they Don to have to sit around and wait for the Federal government to come out with regulations says Bill Jeffery a member of Canadas Federal task Force on trans fats and National co coordinator of the Centre for the science in Public interest. The Washington consumer health group has filed suit against pfc in the . Over startlingly High Levels of trans fats in pfc meals. Executive director Michael Jacobson has accused pfc of putting customers at risk of a Kentucky Fried ? can West news service ;