Bats in the belfrey....the problem with bats

[koshergrl]

Please don't pick up or hang out around bats:


"The most widely distributed reservoir of rabies in the United States, however, and the source of most human cases in the U.S., are bats. Nineteen of the twenty-two human rabies cases documented in the United States between 1980 and 1997 have been identified genetically as bat rabies. In many cases, victims are not even aware of having been bitten by a bat, assuming that a small puncture wound found after the fact was the bite of an insect or spider; in some cases, no wound at all can be found, leading to the hypothesis that in some cases the virus can be contracted via inhaling airborne aerosols from the vicinity of bats. For instance, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warned on May 9, 1997, that a woman who died in October, 1996 in Cumberland County, Kentucky and a man who died in December, 1996 in Missoula County, Montana were both infected with a rabies strain found in silver-haired bats; although bats were found living in the chimney of the woman's home and near the man's workplace, neither victim could remember having had any contact with them.[18"

Prevalence of rabies - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Prompted by spoonman's downed bat photo in the Wildside Pecker's forum...I don't want to derail that thread which is primarily about photographing and discussing wild birds.....but bats DO carry disease, and some of the diseases they carry can be fatal by the time the symptoms show up.

Many people who get lysso virus (of which rabies is one) don't even know how they got it...they aren't aware of being bitten...and by the time they realize, it can be too late for any effective prevention; all that you're going to get is treatment, and crossed fingers.

If a bat is down on the ground at any time, or if you find it in a building where they haven't been before, during the day, please don't catch it or pick it up. Call fish & game or whatever you have and have THEM come and get the thing. They will also test to see if it is harboring any diseases, and that helps them with monitoring the population.

I was in the Dollar Store, for pete's sakes, once with my kids, when one of the cashiers was racing through the store trying to catch a bat. It was full daylight, in fact, a hot summer afternoon...and the bat would fly, then land, then struggle up just as she got to it.

Obviously there was something wrong about it. And she was like "Omg, it's so cute...all that about bats being dangerous is just paranoia, blah blah blah blah". There was obviously a problem with the bat. So why would someone want to handle a sick bat?

I know I didn't appreciate having it chased past 3 year old kid....

 

[waltky]

Fallout shelters to be used for bats to hang out...

Cold War bunkers offer bats refuge from killer disease
7 May 2013 - Cold War nuclear bunkers are the latest attempt to safeguard US bat populations under attack from white-nose syndrome.

Scientists have converted two of the 43 bunkers at the former Loring Air Force Base, Maine, which has been a wildlife reserve since the mid-1990s. The artificial hibernacula are designed to safeguard bats from the disease that was first recorded in the US in 2006. White-nose syndrome (WNS) has killed up to an estimated 6.7 million bats so far and is continuing to spread. The disease, first described in a cave system in the state of New York, affects hibernating species is now found in 22 US states and five Canadian provinces.

The once secretive site in Maine, which was the closest US-based airbase to Moscow and a key asset for the US Strategic Air Command during the Cold War, was closed in 1994 before being reborn as the Aroostook National Wildlife Refuge. Steve Agius, the refuge's assistant manager, said that staff felt the derelict grass-roofed bunkers had more potential ecologically than just offering nesting sites for sandpipers and sparrows. "The bunkers remained a curiosity for years and biological staff speculated that perhaps the structures could provide overwintering hibernacula for bats," he said.

The devastating impact of WNS on a growing number of US bat species led to the bunkers being assessed as potential winter homes for hibernating bats. As a result, one of the bunkers was modified by US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) staff, and 30 male little-brown bats (Myotis lucifugus) arrived at their new winter home in December 2012. The bunker's conversion included installing roosting places for the bats and CCTV to monitor the hibernating mammals.

Ann Froschauer, an endangered species biologist and USFWS WNS spokeswoman, explained the merits of using these artificial caves in the battle against the killer disease. "One of the problems about WNS is that the fungus persists in the environment for an unknown amount of time and does not require bats as a host," she explained. "If there are no bats then the fungus goes back to doing its normal soil function, such as degrading organic matter. Then, if any new bats come into the area, they are exposed to it."

More BBC News - Cold War bunkers offer bats refuge from killer disease

 

[Mr. H.]

I hung out a couple of bat houses when we lived in the country. They do good deeds in nature.

 

[koshergrl]

Yes I know they have their place.

Their place is not near people.

 

[Mr. H.]

That can be said of many humans.

 

[koshergrl]

Yeah, generally people don't get rabies from close proximity to humans.

I'm baffled by the mentality of humans who take silly risks with wildlife. It's one thing to appreciate wildlife; it's another to try to touch them or be physically close to them, as if they're pets. They aren't, and bats in particular are carriers of disease.

 

[Mr. H.]

I tend to leave the wildlife alone. If I see a spider in the house I'll scoop it up and place it outside. Taught my kids to do the same. My philosophy is that they have important things to do.