Bats and Bicycles

For me, bats and bicycles go hand-in-hand:

The rarely seen Cyclobat

I've been a supporter of Bat Conservation International (BCI) for many years.  Several years ago Robert and I took the most wonderful long-weekend trip to Austin and San Antonio, Texas.  In Austin we did a group ride with some local cyclists and watched the bats emerge from the Congress Avenue bridge.  I thought it couldn't get any better, but it did.  The highlight of our trip was visiting Bracken Cave near San Antonio.  Bracken Cave, owned by BCI, is the summer home to the largest known colony of bats in the world, about 10 million Mexican free-tail bats!  Seeing the bats emerge from Bracken Cave was one of the most magical experiences of my life.

When I was planning my special cycling project for 2013, A Year of Centuries (www.ayearofcenturies.blogspot.com), I immediately knew that I wanted to ride for BCI as one of my charities.  Bats are such majestic and critical - yet misunderstood - creatures.  They are invaluable to our ecosystems, eating insects that destroy crops, pollinating plants, and dispersing seeds.  At the same time, bats face numerous threats in the U.S. and around the world, ranging from indiscriminate killing to the devastating White Nose Syndrome.  Recently, the bats of Bracken Cave have come under a particularly critical threat.

A developer proposed building approximately 3,500 homes adjacent to Bracken Cave.  This would disrupt the nightly flight patterns of the bats, which have been using Bracken Cave as their summer home for over 10,000 years.  Furthermore, the proposed development would lead to increased contact between humans and bats - not a good thing because the bats most certainly would lose out.  BCI went to work right away on behalf of the bats of Bracken Cave.

BCI tried to negotiate with the developer, but soon it became clear that the only real way to protect the bats was to purchase the property from the developer.  To make a long story short, BCI partnered with several other entities, including the City of San Antonio and the Nature Conservancy, to purchase the property.  Just yesterday, word was released that the Nature Conservancy was able to secure a $5 million loan to complete the purchase.  Truly, this is the best Halloween story ever!

http://www.batcon.org/files/Press_Release_-_Conservation_Deal_Saves_Worlds_Largest_Bat_Colony_on_Halloween.pdf

For 17 years (almost as long as I've been a member of BCI!), I've loved dressing up as the Mad Doctor at Haunticello, which is trick-or-treating on the square in my hometown of Monticello.  This year, in honor of all the visitors to the Mad Doctor's operating room, I made a special donation to BCI to help with the purchase of the land adjacent to Bracken Cave.  I gave the trick-or-treaters a handout from BCI describing the superpowers of bats.  On the back I wrote a brief description of the plight of the bats at Bracken Cave.  How perfect, then, that this fantastic bat was one of the trick-or-treaters!

Thanks to the bats, it was the best Haunticello ever!

P.S. Funds are still needed to save the bats of Bracken Cave.  For more information or to make a donation, please visit www.batcon.org.