Nature & You: Should we fear bats?

Neil Garrison
Special to The Oklahoman

In regards to the question of "where did the COVID-19 virus originate?" we are still in the finger-pointing phase. Some scientists insist it started out in wild bats. Yet other scientists are equally convinced it was an accidental escape from an ill-conceived Chinese laboratory experiment that went terribly wrong.

Bats bear the brunt of a lot of bad press. I would imagine a lot of this is due to the inescapable truth that bats go about their business in the creepy hours of darkness. Oh so many people have an unfounded (but deep-seated) fear of the dark.   

If truth be told, people pose more of a threat to bats … than bats are a threat to us.

Populations of cave-dwelling bats are taking a serious nosedive. There is a very serious disease that is whomping up on U.S. bat populations. It is called white nose syndrome. It is a deadly fungus that causes bats to wake from hibernation much too early, with the result being that bats die by the thousands. White nose syndrome poses no health threat to humans.

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A Mexican free-tailed bat appears to rest on a rocky ledge. With pointy ears, winged appendages and dusk-till-dawn activity, bats might seem a bit scary to some.

Scientists are alarmed at the sharp decline in the populations of these farmer friends. (Bats eat large numbers of agricultural insect pests.)

In an effort to help our bat friends, scientists have installed bat-friendly gates on some selected cave entrances. These barriers allow bats to come and go freely but make it impossible for people to enter the caves. It is an attempt to keep bumbling cave-exploring hobbyists from tromping through disease-infected caves and then contaminating disease-free caves with those muddy boots and clothing.

A world without bats would be a situation much too terrifying to even imagine.

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