Hi David, thanks for the comment, I think you raise an interesting question. To me the issue as a vegan organic gardener is fundamentally about whether our relationships with non-human animals is exploitative or not, or whether unnecessary harm is caused by our actions, rather than simply excluding certain items because they are technically 'animal products'.
Indeed I’ve often been asked whether a completely animal-free permaculture is even actually possible. My response is, of course not, and neither would it be desirable. For example, how would we fence out the earthworms that build our soil and maintain its fertility, or the bees that pollinate our fruit trees and vegetables, and why ever would we wish to? In fact, we actively design in features that are intended to attract wildlife: Ponds for frogs, toads and dragonflies, and flowering plants to bring in the ladybirds and hoverflies that keep populations of potential pests like slugs and aphids in check, and are essential to maintaining healthy productive ecosystems. What we wouldn’t include are those ‘system components’ that we believe perpetuate exploitative relationships with our non-human earth co-citizens, such as pigs, goats and chickens, whose primary function is the production of meat, milk and eggs.
On a more practical level I'm not too sure about the wisdom of using fresh bats droppings (guano) as a fertiliser, as I believe that, like birds droppings, these can have very high high nutrient concentrations and can cause damage to the soil and plants if applied in excess. Bat guano should therefore be well composted before application, or else applied in very small amounts. Also mining bat's guano from caves as sometimes happens in commercial situations can cause damage to often delicate eco-systems. Some bats will starve to death when regularly disturbed during their resting period, and guano mining has been linked to declining bat populations in
Jamaica for example, but I'm guessing that this is not the sort of situation you are talking about!
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