Press Releases
10/24/2024
Connecticut Celebrates Bat Week from Oct. 24-31
Learn How You Can Help Conserve Declining Bat Populations in Connecticut
(HARTFORD, CT) – The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) is celebrating the importance of bats during Bat Week, an international event celebrated annually during the week before Halloween. Bats play a critical role in ecosystems worldwide and provide tremendous value to humans in a variety of ways. Bats in North America also currently face an unprecedented population crisis, making it even more important to call attention to these often-misunderstood creatures.
Bat Week continues the celebration of bats in Connecticut which began with Bat Appreciation Day on September 15, 2024, a cooperative effort between the DEEP Wildlife Division and the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development’s Old New-Gate Prison and Copper Mine in East Granby.
“Halloween is a great time to celebrate our cooperative efforts to conserve bats, which have been decimated across Connecticut and much of North America,” said DEEP Commissioner Katie Dykes. “Bats are not only cool animals with unique abilities, they are incredibly helpful to humans in a variety of ways, including feeding on insects and pests, such as mosquitoes, which spread diseases like West Nile Virus and Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE).”
There are many common myths about bats, but here is the truth:
- Bats are not flying mice. In fact, they are the only mammal capable of true flight.
- Bats are adept fliers who do not try to get caught in people’s hair. Bats that fly near people are chasing flying insects like mosquitoes.
- Bats are not blind. They have good eyesight and use “echolocation” (sending and receiving sound waves, like sonar) to navigate at night.
- Bats are not dirty or covered in parasites. Healthy wings are essential for flight, so bats take great care in grooming themselves.
- Not all bats are “vampire bats.” Of the over 1,400 species of bats worldwide, only three are true vampire bats which parasitically feed on birds and cattle.
Bats are tremendously valuable to humans. For example, bats are the single greatest known predator of night-flying insects like mosquitoes. A colony of 150 big brown bats can eat roughly 1.3 million insects annually. Bats are estimated to contribute at least $3 billion annually to the U.S. agricultural economy through pest control and pollination. Bats’ big appetite for insects also benefits the forest products industry and reduces the need for chemical pesticide use in many areas. In parts of the U.S., particularly the Southwest, bats also are important plant pollinators.
“For far too long, bats largely have been misunderstood and feared by people, which admittedly makes them a great addition to Halloween celebrations but also undermines their irreplaceable value to the economy, ecosystem, and human health,” said Jenny Dickson, CT DEEP Wildlife Division Director. “Celebrating Bat Week helps change public perceptions of these fascinating and quirky flying mammals. The more people learn about bats, the more they want to protect them, which is so critical as we work to facilitate the recovery of bats impacted by White Nose Syndrome and other conservation threats.”
Bats in Crisis: White Nose Syndrome
White Nose Syndrome (WNS), a disease caused by an invasive fungus, has killed millions of bats across the U.S. and Canada since 2006. For example, WNS has killed over 90% of northern long-eared, little brown, and tricolored bats in North America in less than 10 years. The WNS crisis has prompted state and federal governments to take protective actions, including listing multiple bat species as threatened or endangered under Federal and State Endangered Species Acts. In Connecticut, the six species most affected by WNS include the big brown, little brown, northern long-eared, tricolored, eastern small-footed, and Indiana bats. All of these species except the big brown bat are now listed as endangered under the Connecticut Endangered Species Act.
Since 2007, the DEEP Wildlife Division has been an active participant in the WNS response. Each year, DEEP biologists monitor bats in Connecticut to document population status and participate in region-wide bat monitoring and conservation programs.
Here’s how you can help in the effort to conserve bats:
- Bats with WNS often wake from winter hibernation and seek food and water, only to perish from exposure. If you see bats outside during the winter, please report to deep.batprogram@ct.gov or call the Wildlife Division at 860-424-3011. Be sure to include the date, location, and if possible digital photos of the bat.
- Help the DEEP Wildlife Division and White Memorial Conservation Center in Litchfield count and observe bats living in the barn at White Memorial from late spring to late fall through Bats Count! Bat Cam.
- Reduce pesticide use. Let bats and birds take care of the insects.
- Plant a pollinator garden using a mix of native plants that will stay in bloom from spring through fall. Providing habitat that supports healthy populations of insect pollinators will in turn support bats that need a lot of energy to raise their young and survive winter.
- Protect bat roosting and hibernation sites.
- Minimize outdoor lighting at night. Bats rely on the darkness to sneak up on their prey and avoid detection by predators.
- Consider putting up a bat house. Providing bats with a safe place to roost is a great way to support their recovery while keeping them out of your home.
- Spread the word about Bat Week!
Want to learn more about bats? Follow CT Fish and Wildlife on Facebook or Instagram for interesting facts, photos, and videos about bats during Bat Week, or visit the DEEP Bat Webpage.
Photo credit: Paul Benjunas/CT DEEP Wildlife Division
Bats are the single greatest predator of night-flying insects. A single colony of big brown bats can eat roughly 1.3 million insects every year — nearly 9,000 insects per bat.
- Twitter: @CTDEEPNews
- Facebook: DEEP on Facebook
Contact
DEEP Communications
DEEP.communications@ct.gov
860-424-3110