[AGL] Re: Bats in the belfry

[Wayne Johnson]

Don't need to be told about the value of bats, I have been fond of bats for years.  They are interesting and most beneficial indeed.  I just don't want to be bitten by one because I don't want to have to take the shots...or have Honor take the shots...as our Austin friend John Meadows had to do many years ago.

Bats are great; they can't help it if they carry a disease that is deadly to humans. 

Same with skunks, foxes and wombats.

wgJ
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Karen Willis 
  To: survivors' reminiscences about Austin Ghetto Daze in the 60s 
  Sent: Monday, June 19, 2006 9:26 PM
  Subject: RE: [AGL] Re: Bats in the belfry


  Well, Wayne, whoever told you that was batty.  Here is some information about bats from the BasicallyBats.org website.  Bats are extremely beneficial to humans and should not be persecuted or maligned.  Yes, you can get all excited about one news story.  There was a cat in East Austin that bit someone about a year ago.  They caught the cat and it tested positive for rabies.  Is that a reason to be afraid of all cats?

  http://www.basicallybats.org/aboutBats.html

  Bats are one of the most misunderstood and persecuted native
  wild animals. They are also the animals most immediately beneficial
  to humans.

  In the United States there are 44 species of bats. Unlike the
  bats you've seen in horror movies, native bats are tiny. They
  range in weight from 3 grams to 35 grams. Thirty-five grams is
  equal to 1 1/4 ounces.  Some species, like the red bat (Lasiurus
  borealis) and the hoary bat (Lasiurus cinereus), prefer
  to live alone in trees.  Other species, like the big brown bat
  (Eptesicus fuscus), the little brown bat (Myotis lucifugus),
  and the Mexican free-tailed bat (Tadarida barziliensis),
  live in groups called colonies.  Colonial bats are more likely
  to inhabit a bat house.

  Bats are very shy creatures.  Like most wild animals, they avoid
  contact with humans and go about the business of eating, reproducing,
  and avoiding predators.  Bats are nocturnal, resting during the
  day and hunting insects at night.

  Nearly all bats that live in the United States feed on insects.
   They eat night-flying insects that destroy our crops, and those
  that make our lives miserable by biting us.  One bat can eat up
  to 600 mosquito- and gnat-sized insects in one hour.  Bats are
  a natural alternative to toxic chemicals which endanger our personal
  and environmental well-being.

  Bats are the only true flying mammals.  They give birth from mid-May
  through July, and they nurse their pups in the same way other
  mammals do.

  Bats either migrate or hibernate during the winter.  Although
  bats are "warm-blooded", they have the ability to lower
  their body temperatures to the temperature of their surroundings:
   this is called torpor.  In the winter, bats go into a deep, extended
  torpor called hibernation.  It is very important not to disturb
  hibernating bats because they can lose valuable energy reserves
  and die.

  Myths about bats

  Bats are blind.
       
  Wrong!  All bats can see.   Bats also have a second sight
  mechanism called echolocation.  It is a very sophisticated sonar
  system inaudible to the human ear.  The bat emits signals that
  go in waves. When the sound-waves strike an object, they return
  to the bat's ear as echoes.

  Bats suck our blood.

  Wrong!  There are only three species of bats that feed on blood.
   Vampire bats live in Mexico and Central and South America.  There
  are no vampire bats in the United States.  Vampire bats weigh
  approximately 1¼ ounces.  They lap, not suck, small amounts
  of blood from tiny wounds they make in wild and farm animals.
   They rarely attempt to feed on humans because human blood is
  not palatable to them.

  Bats get entangled in our hair.

  Wrong!  Bats do not get entangled in human hair.  A bat's echolocation
  is so fine-tuned it can detect the difference between a strand
  of hair and a gnat!  They may, however, fly close to a person
  when in pursuit of an insect, particularly near water.

  Bats carry rabies.

  Wrong!  Like all mammals, bats can contract rabies, but they are
  not asymptomatic carriers of the virus.  When a bat gets rabies,
  it usually dies.

  The frequency of rabies in bats is very low.  Scientific studies
  have shown that less than one-half of one percent of bats contract
  rabies.  Infected bats rarely become aggressive;  usually, they
  gradually weaken and die.  In some states, there are more rabies-infected
  cows than bats!

  Nevertheless, rabies is a serious disease, and left untreated,
  it is always fatal.  Bat rabies is also avoidable.  Just do not
  pick up a bat!  All wild animals will bite to protect themselves.
   If you find a live bat on the ground, it is probably sick or
  injured.  The fact that the bat is grounded does not mean it has
  rabies, but you should assume it does for your own protection.
   If you feel you must pick it up, wear leather gloves.  Even a
  bat that appears dead may merely be in torpor and may bite in
  self-defense when touched.

    The information that I got from the Texas Department of Health was that 90% of Mexican Free-tail bats had rabies.  I never said 90% of all bats.  The numbers may have changed since then, but the MFT is still the best candidate.  The number of people who have died in the last ten or so years is quite small.
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