Boundary Museum Welcomes Bats Permanently
Thank you to the Granby Wilderness Society for leading this project! The following is a recent article from their Facebook post of November 9th regarding a bat conservation initiative we were happy to support.
“Community businesses rose up to the task to help the Boundary Museum and the Museum’s friends, the bats! There have been a few bats seen over the past few years that have taken up summer residence in the outbuildings on the museum grounds. Not wanting to evict these bats without a place to go in the summer folks jumped in to help.”
“Gary Smith first came onto the scene and helped to determine how the bats were getting in and out of the buildings and ways to ensure they were gently evicted. The Granby Wilderness Society who values a small space at the museum knew how to help! A bat house built by the Woodworkers Guild a few years back still needed a home. Striker Industries was keen to help build a bracket to attach the bat house and FortisBC came to the rescue with a pole to mount the house to and the means to place the pole!”
“Now the bats will have their own home at the Boundary Museum to return to in the spring!”
“There are many myths associated with bats. There are 3 vampire bat species that occur in Latin America that do drink blood, but they lap it up, so NO, bats do not suck your blood! The anti-coagulant found in vampire bats has been developed into a medicine for stroke victims. They are not flying mice, they are mammals, more like humans than rodents. They are way too agile to get caught in your hair. And they are not all infected with rabies. Just like any other mammal, they are susceptible to carrying the virus, but most are rabies free.”
“Bats are beneficial to the natural environment and to human economies. They will easily eat their weight in insects every night, excellent for insect control of damaging pests for agricultural producers! They are incredible pollinators and seed dispersers.”
“Bats are in decline and face many threats including White Nose Syndrome that has killed over 6 million bats in just 8 years, habitat loss, pesticide use, destruction of roost sites and climate change.”
“Come by the Boundary Museum to check out what they have done for bats and let’s be a bat friendly community! The Boundary Habitat Stewards is in their second year being funded by the Habitat Conservation Trust Fund to restore Riparian Habitat for Species at Risk which includes our bats! A big thank you to Striker Industries, FortisBC, and the Boundary Museum for their contribution and attention to our local bats!” (Article was written by Jenny Coleshill, Biologist)