Now it's ASDA killing sparrows!

I read somewhere that if bats nest in your house roof they have to stay there,now I am getting confused with what you can and can't do

 

Kandy Bats are indeed a protected specis ,im not sure about houses but i do know that builders cant distroy there habitat,we had a simular thing here were buiders wanted to build in a woods but were denied because bats were in the woods

 

I didn't realise it was �£10,000 per bat,I always thought it was a �£1,0000 per bat,I wish I was a bat though I am a bit batty at times :D :D I would be priceless

[ 12. December 2006, 04:45 PM: Message edited by: Kandyfloss ]

 

Some people like having bats in their houses. If they are in the roof then you would have to cover up things like water tanks etc. That might be a good idea anyway, its not just bat droppings. I heard of someone who found a very decomposed pigeon in the header tank to their hot water.
Pipestrelles quite like modern houses but I think that is probably mainly in the summer. They like to squeeze under the ornemental tiles that some houses have hanging on the walls. In this church are the bats free hanging? Quite a few bats prefer to squeeze in gaps.
I would love bats in the roof. We have a couple that fly round in the summer and I think they are fantastic as they duck anhd dive.
I nthink designers are often to blame. If you are going to build a big high ceiling building like a supermarket and leave the doors open all day then it is inevitable that at sometime a bird will fly in and not be able to find its way out. It would then be very difficult to catch. You would have thought that someone might have come up with the idea of putting in a window at a high level that could be temporary opened for the birds to find their own way out.

 

Bats in the roof of a house are not a problem because we have ceilings. Imagine if you didn't and the bat poo constantly dropped on your beds! In a church where the roof space is open, the droppings - drop. The church shown on television was dreadfully soiled with droppings. Prayer books, pews and everything had to be cleaned daily. It must be a health hazard but as nobody actually lives in a church....

There must be a sensible solution surely. Move the bats at the right time to a safe place and then block up holes?

 

Here's the low-down on what you can and can't do re bats

http://www.rspb.org.uk/countryside/legalissues/bats_law.asp

 

A friend of mine when a copper, was a wildlife protection officer and had to have special training to handle bats. He said that it is, apparently, illegal for anyone without the certificate to handle a bat under any circumstances. Wish I'd known that when I caught a back that had got into my bedroom by mistake. I spent a good few minutes admiring the little thing in my hand before I let it go! Could have cost me a bucket!!

 

Even possession of a dead bat can get you in trouble and ignorance is no defence in law.
Don't handle bats. There was someone , in Scotland I think, who was licensed to handle bats and got bitten while carrying out some handling task. He contracted rabies and died. I suppose as they do travel quite long distances sometimes they could carry the disease in the native population.
I know rabies is more prevalent in wild animals in Eastern Europe. Some years ago while staying in a forest in Finland I found a bat that had got trapped in a bowl of water. It was a biggish specie and I lifted it out using my bare hands, patted it dry gently with tissues and hung it up in a tree to dry. I remember it did not take kindly to being dried and screamed at me. Did not think at the time they could carry rabies.

 

Well I am with Hornbeam - a good dose of common sense is required.

Interestingly John Greenway our MP when he took the matter up in the Commons asked what the honerable members would do if bats decided to inhabit the Houses of Commons and drop deposits all over them and their food.

I wonder if the church on TV was ours, there has been a lot of publicity about it.

 

I think that the church on television was in Essex, Waco. It was a on regional news programme

 

There was a programme on the TV years ago which showed a certain variety of bat coming out at night and climbing up on to cattle I think it was and drinking the blood.Eventually the animals died of Anemia I think it was...

 

I think you have been watching too much Hammer House of Horror Kandyfloss.....

now just to bang on about it even more, the old mill just accross the stream from me had loads of bats in it, I used to love them flying round me late at night. The mill became derelect for some years and has now been totaly modernised and turned into offices. Never see any bats any more though??? Obviously someone has the answer.

The other point on this subject is that whatever the law is, its of no use unless someone is there to enforce it! Same MP John Greenway brought the law on ragwort up to date.....What a laugh, I mean as if someone is going to prosecute every bit of council property that has ragwort growing on it.

 

Remember Mr Bumble? "If the Law thinks that, sir, then the Law is an ass!" Your MP seems to have more sense than most, Waco so he looks like your best bet.


Vampire bats do exist and do drink the blood of cattle. Their fangs remove a thin layer of skin from the cow's leg and their saliva prevents coagulation. So the blood keeps flowing until the bat has had sufficient. Cattle don't generally die from it as they soon make up for the loss. No worse than us going to a blood donor session. No worry here as they only live in South America.

 

And more frequently in the jungles of Central America as well HB. Not going to say the scary part though, in case it gives GCers the 'vapours' :D

 

Yes I have seen that about vampire bats - they do carry rabies and it is that that kills rather than anaemia.
Waco they haven't the answer....if they disturbed a colony and someone found out...well the building firm would probably go into liquidation with the fine.
If you think that because the bats cannot be moved then it is against common sense then you don't understand the reason behind the law.
The bats need special conditions and are particularly susceptible at certain times ie breeding and during hibernation. They have a fairly low productive rate and have taken a hammering due to changes in the environment and loss of roost places. Colonies can be large but may contain a very large proportion of that specie in a single colony. I think that is what happened to the mouse eared bat which just disappeared from southern England. I can understand therefore why they have such strict protection - we lost mouse eared bats from this country proabbaly due to ignorance, one large colony was probably killed off, perhaps by being bricked in. In my view I want my children and my children's children to have as many species as possible in the environment and so their survival has to be a high priority. While sympathising with the church goers they are experiencing incovenience, which can be got round, but i don't think its on the same scale. Its not that easy to transfer animals, they just don't think in the way we think and moving them can easily lead to disaster.