Bugbear: the bats are out and about...

**Bugbear** · 14th November 10, 11:41 PM

Actually, I have a cat that likes for me to throw a stick or pebble to land near him so he can pounce on it. Kind of like playing fetch.

I'm fairly sure the cat knows I am throwing the stick or pebble because he meows if I wait too long to throw it. It's very funny.

**Woodsheal** · 18th November 10, 05:57 PM

Unfortunately, here in the Northeast US, our bats are dying off from "White Nose Syndrome" - a fungal infection:

http://www.fws.gov/WhiteNoseSyndrome/

The Little Brown Bat, our most common species, is pretty much gone around here. I didn't see a single bat flying around our house this past summer, and I used to see many every night. I miss them...!

**Bigkahuna** · 25th November 10, 08:11 PM

Originally Posted by Woodsheal

Unfortunately, here in the Northeast US, our bats are dying off from "White Nose Syndrome" - a fungal infection:

http://www.fws.gov/WhiteNoseSyndrome/

The Little Brown Bat, our most common species, is pretty much gone around here. I didn't see a single bat flying around our house this past summer, and I used to see many every night. I miss them...!

Bats throughout the Eastern part of the U.S. have been decimated by the "White Nose Syndrome". Whole populations in some areas have been wiped out, and there doesn't seem to be a cure. The disease seems to thrive in the same conditions that bats like to hibernate in. As a result, we may be faced with 700 tons more of insects than we would have been had the bats survived.

**SteveB** · 25th November 10, 08:40 PM

Fortunately the home made bat-houses are in regular use and the mosquito population suffers massive control. The little brown bats here do not seem to have any White Noise disease yet. Hope it stays that way.

Slainte

**Mike_Oettle** · 26th November 10, 12:46 PM

Ali wrote: “you do know that bats carry rabies, don't you?”

Well, some species do. I have not had any reports hereabouts of bat-borne rabies, so I don’t think there is much risk of it in my part of the world.
Most people’s dislike of bats has little or nothing to do with rabies, and more to do with the (largely) irrational fear that they will get caught up in one’s hair (women especially).
Regards,
Mike