Protections boosted to protect bats

Maternity season starts Monday; exclusion will require a permit

If you’ve got pesky bats in your roof tiles or house, you only have a few days to get rid of them without needing a permit.

Bat maternity season runs from Monday through Aug. 15, and it’s a period when homeowners and others must use special care when removing bats from structures.

“Florida’s 13 bat species typically roost in trees, caves or other natural spaces, but are sometimes attracted to human-made structures, including buildings undergoing construction,” an FWC press release says. “If you have bats roosting in buildings, the FWC is sharing the reminder that April 15 is the last day to legally exclude bats from buildings without a permit.”

The bonneted bat is probably the state’s most famous bat as it was once thought extinct and now lives in 11 known breeding colonies, mostly in Collier and Miami-Dade counties.

Other Florida bats include the Brazilian freetailed bat, southeastern myotis, evening bat, Seminole bat, northern yellow, tricolored, gray (endangered), big brown, Rarinesque’s big-eared, hoary and velvety free-tailed.

Flightless young bats can become trapped

“During bat maternity season, it is illegal to block bats from their roosts; this prevents flightless young from being trapped inside structures, which isn’t good for people or bats,” the press release says.

Besides being protected native species, bats also keep bug populations in check.

“Florida’s bats are insectivores, with a single bat eating up to hundreds of insects a night, including mosquitoes and other garden and agricultural pests,” an FWC website reads. “Worldwide, bats serve critical functions due to their roles in insect pest control, and as pollinators and seed dispersers, and their guano can be a valuable fertilizer.”

Bat houses are good nesting locations for various species, and the University of Florida has a program devoted to creating bat breeding structures.

In other bat news, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service last month set aside a 13-county region of south Florida as habitat for the endangered bonneted bat.

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PROVIDED BY FLORIDA FISH AND WILDLIFE CONSERVATION COMMISSION The rare Florida bonneted bat, also called a Eumop, has the smallest range of any bat species in the Western Hemisphere. A small colony has found an unlikely foraging ground at the Coral Gables Granada Golf Course.