Post by L Roebuck on Mar 24, 2006 8:59:43 GMT -5
Middle school bat flap exposes irrational fear
Our view: Unwanted colony at Magee should not obscure the fact that bats are essentially harmless and ecologically vital
It is an indisputable and yet remarkable fact that the reputations of disgraced politicians can be rehabilitated more easily than the reps of some other creatures.
Snakes, of course, inspire the most fear and loathing, but bats are a close second. Just ask the kids at Magee Middle School.
Bats are not uncommon in Southern Arizona, but when roughly 40 of them took up residence in the crawl spaces at the school, Tucson Unified School District took what seemed like an extreme step. It evacuated 800 students for the day and called in a bat SWAT team.
In all, the professional wildlife removal team evicted more than 130 bats during a three-week period.
This reaction, at least on the surface, was linked to the fact that bats can carry rabies. Not many do, but they can.
In fact, the same thing can be said of dogs and cats. But bats aren't quite as cuddly and it doesn't help that they tend to look like creatures from the dark side of Transylvania.
Overcoming popular mythology is not an easy task, and our local bats make matters worse by getting people mad at them. They do so by coming uninvited to people's hummingbird feeders.
Many bird fanciers who put out hummingbird feeders know that bats will come to the feeders and have their fill when the sun goes down. Creatures that steal nutrition intended for hummingbirds provoke considerable finger-wagging.
Which is not to suggest that humans are universally averse to bats. Just as there are people who have a warm spot for snakes and rehabilitated politicians, there are many who enjoy the company of bats.
Bat Conservation International (www.batcon.org) encourages people to get to know the bats in their back yards. It even has a program to make this easier.
The Web site says, "People all over the world have discovered the benefits and wonder of using bat houses to attract bats to their own back yards. We hope you will join them by providing new homes for these gentle and fascinating mammals with a voracious appetite for troublesome insects. BCI's Bat House Project can help you select (or build) and install successful bat houses. We have analyzed more than 10 years of data from thousands of volunteer Research Associates to determine the most effective ways to attract bats to your bat house."
In our unceasing crusade to defend the underdog — or, in this case, the underbat — we feel compelled to point out that bats are essentially harmless nocturnal creatures. They come out at night to eat insects, not children.
Bats are an important element in the ecosystem. When Kartchner Caverns was being developed into a state park, special care was taken not to disturb the roughly 1,000 cave myotis bats that roost in the Big Room.
The Kartchner Caverns Web site notes that "the pregnant female bats return to Kartchner Caverns around the end of April, where they give birth to a single pup in late June. The babies remain in the roost each evening while their mothers forage for insects in the surrounding countryside. During the summer the colony consumes about half a ton of insects, consisting of moths, flying ants, beetles, mosquitoes and termites."
Is there any pest-control company more efficient than a bunch of bats?
We hope Magee Middle School will use its bat episode as an opportunity to educate students and teachers about the important role that bats play in the natural food chain.
www.azstarnet.com/allheadlines/121429
Our view: Unwanted colony at Magee should not obscure the fact that bats are essentially harmless and ecologically vital
It is an indisputable and yet remarkable fact that the reputations of disgraced politicians can be rehabilitated more easily than the reps of some other creatures.
Snakes, of course, inspire the most fear and loathing, but bats are a close second. Just ask the kids at Magee Middle School.
Bats are not uncommon in Southern Arizona, but when roughly 40 of them took up residence in the crawl spaces at the school, Tucson Unified School District took what seemed like an extreme step. It evacuated 800 students for the day and called in a bat SWAT team.
In all, the professional wildlife removal team evicted more than 130 bats during a three-week period.
This reaction, at least on the surface, was linked to the fact that bats can carry rabies. Not many do, but they can.
In fact, the same thing can be said of dogs and cats. But bats aren't quite as cuddly and it doesn't help that they tend to look like creatures from the dark side of Transylvania.
Overcoming popular mythology is not an easy task, and our local bats make matters worse by getting people mad at them. They do so by coming uninvited to people's hummingbird feeders.
Many bird fanciers who put out hummingbird feeders know that bats will come to the feeders and have their fill when the sun goes down. Creatures that steal nutrition intended for hummingbirds provoke considerable finger-wagging.
Which is not to suggest that humans are universally averse to bats. Just as there are people who have a warm spot for snakes and rehabilitated politicians, there are many who enjoy the company of bats.
Bat Conservation International (www.batcon.org) encourages people to get to know the bats in their back yards. It even has a program to make this easier.
The Web site says, "People all over the world have discovered the benefits and wonder of using bat houses to attract bats to their own back yards. We hope you will join them by providing new homes for these gentle and fascinating mammals with a voracious appetite for troublesome insects. BCI's Bat House Project can help you select (or build) and install successful bat houses. We have analyzed more than 10 years of data from thousands of volunteer Research Associates to determine the most effective ways to attract bats to your bat house."
In our unceasing crusade to defend the underdog — or, in this case, the underbat — we feel compelled to point out that bats are essentially harmless nocturnal creatures. They come out at night to eat insects, not children.
Bats are an important element in the ecosystem. When Kartchner Caverns was being developed into a state park, special care was taken not to disturb the roughly 1,000 cave myotis bats that roost in the Big Room.
The Kartchner Caverns Web site notes that "the pregnant female bats return to Kartchner Caverns around the end of April, where they give birth to a single pup in late June. The babies remain in the roost each evening while their mothers forage for insects in the surrounding countryside. During the summer the colony consumes about half a ton of insects, consisting of moths, flying ants, beetles, mosquitoes and termites."
Is there any pest-control company more efficient than a bunch of bats?
We hope Magee Middle School will use its bat episode as an opportunity to educate students and teachers about the important role that bats play in the natural food chain.
www.azstarnet.com/allheadlines/121429
