New Zealand's Bird of the Year is Not a Bird

New Zealand’s coveted Bird of the Year award is won by a non-bird! 

Does it make sense?

And out of the 56,733 votes that were cast this year, the pekapeka-tou-roa, or long-tailed bat (Scientific name: Chalinolobus tuberculatus) received 7,031 votes, giving it a steady lead against the second-place finisher and last year's winner, the kākāpō also called owl parrot (Scientific name: Strigops habroptilus), which received 4,072 votes. 

Methinks, the seven thousand and thirty-one New Zealanders need to go back to school to learn how to differentiate a mammal from a bird. 

The competition organizers, Forest & Bird conservation charity explained that the bat about the size of a human thumb, was included in the list of finalists to raise awareness and support for the species. 

Really? If this foolishness is to be allowed, next year, they might just vote any other ‘thing’ other than a bird. Perhaps, they’ll put the Māui dolphin (Scientific name: Cephalorhynchus hectori maui) or the Canterbury knobbled weevil (Scientific name: Hadramphus tuberculatus) in the list. Or maybe even plants like the limestone cress (Scientific name: Pachycladon exilis) or the Dune swale daphne (Scientific name: Pimelea actea). After all, all of these are critically endangered too. 

I don’t understand their logic, I really don't.