Bats get a bad rap, says longtime Saskatchewan researcher

Bats may have a reputation for being creepy, disease-carrying creatures of the night, but a longtime Saskatchewan bat researcher said they deserve a little more appreciation.

“They’re in the spider, snake, shark category of animals that people don’t particularly like, but at the same time are fascinated by,” said Mark Brigham, a recently retired University of Regina biology professor who has studied bats for more than 40 years.

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Bats have been in the Saskatchewan spotlight recently for less-than-flattering reasons. A rabid bat was recently found in the RM of Duck Lake, according to Brighton Veterinary Clinic, while the province issued a reminder this week about safely removing bats from buildings.

But Brigham said the perception that bats commonly carry rabies is misleading.

“Bats have the reputation for all carrying it and it being very common. That simply isn’t true,” Brigham said.

He stressed that rabies is an extremely serious disease and people need to take appropriate action if they are exposed to a potentially rabid animal, but simply having a bat fly overhead or nearby isn’t a reason to panic.

Brigham said he would rather have people recognize what bats are doing while they are swooping through the evening sky.

“They do us a lot of good,” he said. “They eat large numbers of insects at night that we would call pests.”

The province made a similar point in its safety message, noting bats help protect crops, forests, parks and gardens by feeding on insect pests. The Government of Saskatchewan is encouraging residents to support bat populations by maintaining healthy wetlands and native vegetation, reducing or better targeting pesticide use and installing bat houses where roosts have been destroyed.

But that doesn’t mean homeowners have to welcome bats as roommates.

“I totally get if you have bats in your building, they’re not paying rent and they should be asked politely to leave,” Brigham joked.

September is one of the appropriate times to do just that. The province said May and September are ideal months to install one-way exits, which allow bats to leave a building but prevent them from getting back inside. Evicting bats during the summer can separate mothers from pups that are not yet able to fly.

Brigham agreed with that advice.

By around Labour Day, he said, young bats are generally capable of flying, making fall a better time to deal with a colony that spent the summer inside a building.

However, Brigham did take issue with the suggestion that cooling temperatures mean bats are now actively looking for buildings in which to spend the winter.

“September is a time when, if you had bats over the summer, it is a good time to evict them, but it’s not a time that bats are going to turn up in a building for you to have to think about doing something about it,” he said.

He said the most common conflicts with bats in buildings occur during warmer months, when females gather in maternity colonies to give birth and raise their pups.

For people trying to remove them, Brigham said gimmicks aren’t likely to accomplish much.

“Mothballs won’t work, smoke won’t work, lights won’t work, noise makers won’t work,” he said.

Instead,Brigham said, the entrances bats are using need to be identified and eventually sealed, something that can be challenging because he said bats can squeeze through a crack just a quarter-inch wide.

The province requires free permits for bat eviction work and recommends property owners work with a wildlife control operator experienced in bat removal. Bats are protected wildlife in Saskatchewan and it is illegal to kill them.

Brigham said there’s good reason for that protection. In addition to controlling insects, he said many Saskatchewan bats can live for decades.

His advice for people who don’t have bats living in their attic is much simpler: look up.

“Sit out on your deck and instead of looking at the person you’re talking to, sometimes look up against sort of the darkening sky and you might see bats flying over,” he said.

“They’re doing us big favours by doing that.”

And despite their reputation, he added, those bats flying overhead aren’t particularly interested in the humans watching them.

“They don’t want to have anything to do with you directly,” he said.