Alabama mother fed up with barrage of bats

DALEVILLE, Ala. (WTVY) - A Daleville apartment complex is dealing with numerous bats flying around one particular building in the complex, from sundown until sunup. Residents at Deerfield Apartments are pleading for help.

“It’s been going on for two years now,” Kiara Blanks, resident, said.

Blanks tells News 4 the problem has gotten worse over time.

“It’s dangerous for everybody in that building, I would say,” Blanks said.

Blanks said she sees and hears the bats from the top of the roof in the crevices. She said the bats leave behind feces on their cars, making the parking lot reek.

“The smell is so strong of their pee and when you get in your car you can smell it,” Blanks said. “The [feces] is on your car, it’s ridiculous.”

This is just one of her concerns. Her biggest is the health of her child, A ‘meri.

“Just pray for us,” Blanks said.

Blanks is in a lease agreement, so right now, she is just hoping for the best.

She asked her landlord for a resolution but hasn’t gotten any help.

“‘There’s nothing we can do about it, they’re in migration season and they can’t touch it because it’s illegal,’ that’s what I’ve been told,” Blanks said. “I said this to her twice. I asked, ‘Could I move to another building?’ and she said there’s nothing they can do about it until August 16th.”

Mike Croucher is the operations manager of Redmond Pest Solutions. He has worked in this industry for over a decade. He saw the footage of the bats at the complex.

“Based on the video there are a lot of bats,” Croucher said.

He has not been to the property, but offers his professional knowledge of working with several scenarios of relocating bats.

“I speak to this case in particular, I have not been out to the residence and seen it, but facts alone, when human paths cross paths with wildlife and they take up residence in your same dwelling, there’s issues that can arise,” Croucher said.

One of the more known concerns is that bats carry rabies, which Croucher said is typically rare.

“Only one percent of the population of bats actually has rabies,” Croucher said.

Other concerns are when bats infest living spaces, he said it becomes a sanitation issue. Croucher said the greater the population of bats in a human dwelling, the greater the health risk.

“The respiratory issues is what I would be most concerned with,” Croucher said. “In any structure or anything that you live in where bats are above you, beside you, or that type of thing.”

Bats are federally protected, requiring a professional to remove them. Going in to physically grab the bats and pull them out is not an option.

“The only way we can get them out of a structure is by a safe and humane means,” Croucher said.

News 4 asked Croucher when migration season is for bats, and he said it varies on what type of bat it is.

“There are 15 known species of bats in Alabama,” Croucher said. “Only two are the primary ones that conflict with humans and buildings. The Big Brown Bat and the Little Brown Bat. The Big Brown Bat does not have to migrate it can survive freezing temps by lowering its heart rate. So the Big Brown can stay in the same summer roost all year round. The Little Brown Bat will migrate in late August to September and may travel several hundred miles from their summer roost south to find shelter in caves or old mines. They will return in late Winter or early Spring.”

A survey of the property would determine what type of bat is there.

Croucher said a professional inspection must be performed to ensure there are no immature bats or non-fliers present before an abatement can take place.

“Every building, structure, is different,” Croucher said. “We have to go in and custom create a plan for them to able to come out and not be able to re-enter.”

This forces the bats to move on and find another living space. Depending on the time of year, it could be days or weeks before proper control measures are performed.

While they are a nuisance, Croucher said bats are vital to the ecosystem.

“They actually perform a great service for us and are natural pest control, catching flying insects and things like that at night,” Croucher said.

He shares this advice to anyone who may be dealing with bats in or around their area:

“They are not aggressive,” Croucher said. “So, you do not have to be afraid of them attacking you or anything like that. If they swoop down around you or anything like that it’s more so out of curiosity than them trying to be aggressive. But just watch out for these things. Call a professional if you see activity that you know, ‘this isn’t normal,’ call a professional. Someone that can come out do a free inspection. It’s what we provide, to see what’s going on and there are things to be done to correct it to where everyone’s happy, bats and you.”

News 4 reached out to the landlord of Deerfield Apartments. They said they have “no comment.” We provided our contact information if they change their mind later.

Click here to contact Redmon Pest Solutions.

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