Stallone film in Bulgaria 'vandalised' bat colonies: experts

December 22, 2011

The Premiere Of Lionsgate Films' "The Expendables" at the Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood

Enlarge

The Premiere Of Lionsgate Films' "The Expendables" at the Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, California, 2010. Bat experts have slammed the recent filming of a Sylvester Stallone movie in a Bulgarian cave, saying thousands of the mammals had suffered from the Hollywood treatment.

Bat experts have slammed the recent filming of a Sylvester Stallone movie in a Bulgarian cave, saying thousands of the mammals had suffered from the Hollywood treatment.

"Several thousand bats are missing from the Devetashka since our latest count in January when the visible colonies numbered 33,800 bats," Boyan Petrov of the Museum of Natural History said Thursday.

A rough count after the filming of the star-studded Hollywood action blockbuster "The Expendables 2" in November found only about 8,500 bats.

"Never before have we counted less than 10,000 bats in wintertime," Petrov said, adding however that he hoped the rest had just been chased away to adjacent caves.

The environment ministry, which authorised the shooting, said this week in a statement that it had found no problem with the bat colonies.

But the experts insisted filming inside the cave should never have been allowed.

Bats fly in a cave by the river Danube near Bazias
Enlarge

Bats fly in a cave by the river Danube near Bazias, some 480 kms west of Bucharest 2010. Bat experts have slammed the recent filming of a Sylvester Stallone movie in a Bulgarian cave, saying thousands of the mammals had suffered from the Hollywood treatment.

"As a protected nature territory and important bat habitat, the cave is only open for visits by tourists and researchers and totally sealed during the breeding period in June and July," said Dobromir Dobrinov of the Green Balkans nature .

Expert Antonia Hubancheva, who visited the cave after the shooting, said the damage was "unquestionable."

She said the animals were subjected to stress, from and construction works, bright projector lights and crowds of people which kept them awake during a period when they should have been hibernating.

"The vandalism which was allowed to happen is intolerable," bat researcher Vladimir Beshkov fumed.

"It is scientifically proven that all bats disturbed during the winter period drop off when spring comes. And these bats were badly harmed -- they were scattered, scared, chased, woken up!" he said.

The Devetashka Cave, near Lovech in northern Bulgaria, is one of the top three most important bat habitats in Europe, the experts pointed out.

"It is home to 15 protected species of bats, or half of all found in Bulgaria," Petrov said.

Researchers will perform a new count of the colonies next spring to assess the damage.

Filming in Bulgaria for "The Expendables 2," starring Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis and Jean-Claude Van Damme, was already marred by an accident in which one stuntman died and another was injured during a lake scene involving an explosion.

The movie is due for release in August 2012.

(c) 2011 AFP

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_nigmatic10
Dec 22, 2011

Rank: 5 / 5 (1)
So we should be expecting thousands of bat corpses to show up then, right?
rawa1
Dec 22, 2011

Rank: 3.7 / 5 (3)
These bats can die outside of cave, so you'll never find them. It's analogy of Colony Collapse Disorder in honey bee colonies - these bees simply disappear.
Pirouette
Dec 22, 2011

Rank: 3.6 / 5 (5)
@rawa1. . .I agree. . .if these actors had gone into a cave where a bear is hibernating, guaranteed they would not displace the bear. . .but these bats are helpless creatures and the director of the film should have been sensitive enough to choose a different cave that was empty of bats.
See. . .people just don't THINK. . .they boldly go into an environment with no respect at all for the natural inhabitants, then go home to their comfortable houses in Hollywood and BelAir and resume their lives, while thousands of innocent bats are left wondering what happened to their own home. It isn't fair, is it.
Callippo
Dec 22, 2011

Rank: not rated yet
director of the film should have been sensitive enough to choose a different cave that was empty of bats
I'm afraid, he did choose it just because it was full of bats.
Briantllb
Dec 23, 2011

Rank: 5 / 5 (1)
The Bats were almost certainly required as bacground imagery
of course it is cheaper to film in a real cave with real bats than to create a replica cave and CGI bats. Working with CGI imagery requires real acting skill and with the 'names' in this film acting is not a skill they are best known for.
TheGhostofOtto1923
Dec 23, 2011

Rank: 1.5 / 5 (2)
@rawa1. . .I agree. . .if these actors had gone into a cave where a bear is hibernating, guaranteed they would not displace the bear. . .but these bats are helpless creatures and the director of the film should have been sensitive enough to choose a different cave that was empty of bats.
See. . .people just don't THINK. . .they boldly go into an environment with no respect at all for the natural inhabitants, then go home to their comfortable houses in Hollywood and BelAir and resume their lives, while thousands of innocent bats are left wondering what happened to their own home. It isn't fair, is it.
Uh all caves have bats you dimwit.

Your density is embarrassing to everyone but you. Why is that? You don't belong here. You are too dense to realize this. You are too dense to realize that people LAUGH at most everything you post because most everything you post is embarrassing nonsense.
TheGhostofOtto1923
Dec 23, 2011

Rank: 1 / 5 (2)
"She said the animals were subjected to stress, loud noise from heavy machinery and construction works, bright projector lights and crowds of people which kept them awake during a period when they should have been hibernating."

-Not as much as guano mining which takes place in Bulgaria.
http://www.fundin...ory.html
Pirouette
Dec 23, 2011

Rank: 3.4 / 5 (5)
@rawa1. . .I agree. . .if these actors had gone into a cave where a bear is hibernating, guaranteed they would not displace the bear. . .but these bats are helpless creatures and the director of the film should have been sensitive enough to choose a different cave that was empty of bats.
See. . .people just don't THINK. . .they boldly go into an environment with no respect at all for the natural inhabitants, then go home to their comfortable houses in Hollywood and BelAir and resume their lives, while thousands of innocent bats are left wondering what happened to their own home. It isn't fair, is it.
GhostTard says:
Uh all caves have bats you dimwit.

Your density is embarrassing to everyone but you. Why is that? You don't belong here. You are too dense to realize this. You are too dense to realize that people LAUGH at most everything you post because most everything you post is embarrassing nonsense.


GhostTard seems to think that caves all contain bats. LOL
Pirouette
Dec 23, 2011

Rank: 3.4 / 5 (5)
Not ALL caves have bats, you raving idiot moron. Have you BEEN to every cave on Earth, huh? I doubt it. So where do you get the dumb phuck idea that bats are in EVERY CAVE in the world, eh?
Just one more sign of your know-it-all blowing it out your asshole to get more attention. You must think everyone is gonna agree with your twisted brain emissions. I don't think so.
Pirouette
Dec 23, 2011

Rank: 2.3 / 5 (3)
director of the film should have been sensitive enough to choose a different cave that was empty of bats
I'm afraid, he did choose it just because it was full of bats.


@Callippo. . . .they could have gone into a cave that was full of bats, filmed some footage without the actors, and then left quietly. Maybe it was their goal to disturb the bats to show the bats flying around. I can't understand Stallone or the others agreeing to that sort of thing. I thought he was an environmentalist.
TheGhostofOtto1923
Dec 23, 2011

Rank: 1 / 5 (3)
Not ALL caves have bats, you raving idiot moron. Have you BEEN to every cave on Earth, huh? I doubt it. So where do you get the dumb phuck idea that bats are in EVERY CAVE in the world, eh?
Just one more sign of your know-it-all blowing it out your asshole to get more attention. You must think everyone is gonna agree with your twisted brain emissions. I don't think so.
Here you go.
http://www.loc.go...ats.html

-It even has pics and GIFs which should be of help Im sure.
rawa1
Dec 23, 2011

Rank: 3 / 5 (2)
Stallone or the others agreeing to that sort of thing. I thought he was an environmentalist
Only when the Vietcong or similar enemies were out of sight, I'm affraid...

http://emol.org/f...o/07.jpg
TheGhostofOtto1923
Dec 23, 2011

Rank: 1 / 5 (1)
Stallone or the others agreeing to that sort of thing. I thought he was an environmentalist
Only when the Vietcong or similar enemies were out of sight, I'm affraid...

http://emol.org/f...o/07.jpg
Naw thats how you hunt bats also flamethrowers are effective and make tasty batchips
Rank 4 /5 (1 vote)
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