Bat Week In Massachusetts Aims To Raise Awareness About Species

FRAMINGHAM, MA — A lot of people aren't too sanguine about bats, especially in the darkening days of late October.

Between Saturday and Halloween, MassWildlife will celebrate "Bat Week" in Massachusetts as a way to raise awareness about the importance — and relative harmlessness — of the furry critters.

Nine bats species call the Bay State home, and five are considered endangered, according to wildlife officials. Those threatened species include the little brown bat, the Indiana bat (also federally listed as endangered) and the northern long-eared bat, which has only been documented living in about eight communities across the state.

"The best diagnostic character to distinguish the Northern Long-eared Bat from other species in Massachusetts is its long ears," wildlife officials say.

And like bats across the Northeast, the Massachusetts ones are threatened by a fungal disease called white-nose syndrome. It can cause bats to come of hibernation early, among other grim symptoms.

Meanwhile, bats help humans. A single bat can consume thousands of insects like mosquitoes and other pests in a single night. One Boston University professor has estimated that the 50,000 bats living along the I-95 corridor consume up to 15 tons of bugs each summer, according to MassWildlife.

Still, no one is going to blame you for being a little creeped out by bats. But according to wildlife officials say there's almost nothing to be afraid of. Bats don't suck blood, they don't seek out humans to bite and rarely transmit rabies (there are up to two rabies cases per year in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention).

Want to celebrate Bat Week? Here are some things you can do during to help the species, according to MassWildlife:

• Educate yourself and others to help dispel myths and fears about bats. Read the Massachusetts Wildlife magazine article Bat Myths Debunked, to learn more about the fascinating and beneficial features of bats.
• Be a citizen scientist and spread the word about reporting bat colonies to MassWildlife.
• Protect habitat for bats. If you have old, dead, or dying trees on your property, leave them standing as potential roost sites for bats.
• If you must exclude or evict bats from your home, ensure the process is safe and humane by following MassWildlife’s recommendations found in the Massachusetts Homeowner's Guide to Bats.
• Reduce pesticide use to ensure there are plenty of insects for bats to feed on.
• Create a bat-friendly landscape in your backyard by adding water features, such as a pond, and night-scented flowers