Singed fruit bats (flying foxes) on sticks, as bushmeat sold at a local meat shop - Sulawesi Island, Indonesia

After cutting off their wings (sold separately), they impale the bat bodies with a stick through their mouth, and singe them with a blowtorch, to remove their fur. They also singe the wings, I think to kill parasites that could be on the bat wing skin.

In many areas of Sulawesi, fruit bats (Megabats, flying foxes) are the main source of meat. They are hunted and caught in the jungle by locals using just fishing lines and hooks, or nets.

They are then sold as bushmeat in local meat shops. Apparently there is still plenty of fruit bats in the jungle, so they are quite inexpensive on the meat markets.

Bats carry all kinds of viruses including coronaviruses, but fruit bats do not carry the COVID-19 virus. However all bats can carry the lyssavirus (closely related to rabies) which can cause serious illness in humans. But the chances of getting infected by this bat virus are very small.

More info about fruit bats bushmeat:

- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bat_as_food

- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bushmeat

- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megabat