Post by L Roebuck on Oct 30, 2006 19:24:55 GMT -5
South Georgia town plagued by bats
ELLIOTT MINOR
Associated Press
AMERICUS, Ga. - So many bats have infested the town's historic district that the sky turns black with each sunset and the neighborhood is calling on Batman to come to the rescue.
That's what the local bat remover goes by. George Perkins often makes public appearances in the caped crusader's costume and drives his own Batmobile - a retro-styled Chrysler Prowler with bat emblems. Callers to his office in Eufaula, Ala., known as Bat Cave 1, or Union Springs, Ala., known as Bat Cave 2, hear the "Batman" TV show theme while on hold.
The bat-weary residents of Americus aren't laughing. The problem is even too big for Batman, and now the state has promised to help. The Georgia Department of Natural Resources has proposed a long-term plan that includes surveying the bat population, possibly training city workers to do bat removals for needy homeowners and building bat houses in safe areas where the flying mammals can continue providing environmental benefits without being a nuisance.
"They're perpetual crap machines," said Tripp Pomeroy, who moved to the town of 17,000 in 1989 to work for Habitat for Humanity, which has its global headquarters here.
Pomeroy, now the co-owner of a fair-trade, organic coffee company known as Cafe Campesino, said he's spent $1,500 trying to evict bats from the attic of his 96-year-old traditional Southern home. Because of the health risks, he's reluctant to let his children sleep in their upstairs bedrooms.
Millions of bats - the leading cause of human rabies in the U.S. - have moved into the attics of Antebellum and Greek Revival mansions built in the 1800s and Victorian homes from the early 1900s in Americus' historic district covering about a third of the town's 10 square miles.
"The homes ... in this small town are like art," said Deanna Burgess, a Minnesota native who recently moved into a Greek Revival home built in 1856. "They need to be brought back and preserved for future generations."
A previous owner evicted the bats from Burgess' home, but she sees them flying into nearby homes.
The bats swarm out in the evening and perform a community service by eating mosquitoes, gnats and other pests from twilight to dawn. Then, as the sun begins to rise, they head back to their dark attic lairs, where they urinate and leave piles of smelly guano.
Residents can't kill the bats because they are protected under Georgia law, like chipmunks and other non-game animals. Killing one carries a penalty of up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine.
Full Article
ELLIOTT MINOR
Associated Press
AMERICUS, Ga. - So many bats have infested the town's historic district that the sky turns black with each sunset and the neighborhood is calling on Batman to come to the rescue.
That's what the local bat remover goes by. George Perkins often makes public appearances in the caped crusader's costume and drives his own Batmobile - a retro-styled Chrysler Prowler with bat emblems. Callers to his office in Eufaula, Ala., known as Bat Cave 1, or Union Springs, Ala., known as Bat Cave 2, hear the "Batman" TV show theme while on hold.
The bat-weary residents of Americus aren't laughing. The problem is even too big for Batman, and now the state has promised to help. The Georgia Department of Natural Resources has proposed a long-term plan that includes surveying the bat population, possibly training city workers to do bat removals for needy homeowners and building bat houses in safe areas where the flying mammals can continue providing environmental benefits without being a nuisance.
"They're perpetual crap machines," said Tripp Pomeroy, who moved to the town of 17,000 in 1989 to work for Habitat for Humanity, which has its global headquarters here.
Pomeroy, now the co-owner of a fair-trade, organic coffee company known as Cafe Campesino, said he's spent $1,500 trying to evict bats from the attic of his 96-year-old traditional Southern home. Because of the health risks, he's reluctant to let his children sleep in their upstairs bedrooms.
Millions of bats - the leading cause of human rabies in the U.S. - have moved into the attics of Antebellum and Greek Revival mansions built in the 1800s and Victorian homes from the early 1900s in Americus' historic district covering about a third of the town's 10 square miles.
"The homes ... in this small town are like art," said Deanna Burgess, a Minnesota native who recently moved into a Greek Revival home built in 1856. "They need to be brought back and preserved for future generations."
A previous owner evicted the bats from Burgess' home, but she sees them flying into nearby homes.
The bats swarm out in the evening and perform a community service by eating mosquitoes, gnats and other pests from twilight to dawn. Then, as the sun begins to rise, they head back to their dark attic lairs, where they urinate and leave piles of smelly guano.
Residents can't kill the bats because they are protected under Georgia law, like chipmunks and other non-game animals. Killing one carries a penalty of up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine.
Full Article
I wonder what is attracting them to that area?