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GUEST POST: Dispelling Fear of the Phantom Bat
Dianne Odegard is the Outreach Associate for Bat Conservation International, where she works on issues including education, public help, and bats in buildings. Mexican Free-Tailed Bats are one of the featured species for National Wildlife Week for their extraordinary record breaking abilities.
Discovering the Beauty of Bats
I draw a complete blank when I try to conjure up the outcome of that event; I suspect it might not have ended well for the bat. The adults present that long ago night had not yet heard the news that bats are good neighbors, and they had a terrified daughter to protect! When fight or flight kicks in, thought checks out.
My experiences during the past several years at Bat Conservation International, talking with people about all kinds of situations involving bats, confirm that fear is still often the primary (if knee-jerk) reaction to bats. It’s impossible to stop fearing a phantom, and I’ve discovered that seeing live bats up close can have a profound and often immediate effect on people – both children and adults.
My Favorite, the Mexican Free-Tailed Bat
My husband and I are bat rehabilitators, which is extra-curricular from my job doing educational outreach at BCI, though I bring our native bats to programs as often as possible to see that connection happen – this time, it’s a connection to something that is vulnerable and fragile, and increasingly relies on the good will of humans. They see the real, individual animal in place of the myth that was feared. Once that happens, they may care what happens to bats – and that can be the emergence of a conservationist.