Vampire bats haunt cattlemen in Panama

From The Los Angeles Times:

Cattleman Francisco Oliva was on a roundup - of vampire bats. After a swarm of the blood-slurping creatures divebombed his herd and drank their fill one recent night, he corralled several dozen of them in special contraptions that look like giant badminton nets. He put each bat in a cage and then brushed a poison called vampirin on their backs before releasing them. Back in the bat roost, the animals would be groomed by as many as 20 other bats, causing their deaths. Or so Oliva hoped. "We have to look for answers, because this little animal is very stubborn," Oliva said days after the capture as he surveyed his 300-head herd, most of it bearing fang marks and red stains from the nightly bloodletting. Oliva said he would exterminate every single bat if he could. "You keep the good and get rid of the bad," the rancher said, philosophic but wearied by the attacks, "and these little devils are terrible."

Boo! Hiss! Vampire bats are our friends!