Month: January 2017

Kindness Is Everything

The Flood family just became new members of the bat protection squad!
Thanks y’all for your act of compassion!

Here’s their post:

“We rescued this darling little Mexican Free-tailed bat earlier this evening as he was grounded in the middle of the road and nearly hit by several passing cars. We brought him home and called Lee and Diane at Austin Bat Refuge…they took him in and knew just what to do! 💕 Thankfully he had no broken bones and he seemed to be very healthy. Afer some TLC from Lee and Diane @ Austin Bat Refuge, it sounds like he’s going to be ok and will most likely be released back into the wild! 😊So thankful to them for all they do for these little guys… 💕If you ever find a grounded or injured bat, make sure to give them a call….and donate if you can! They have the biggest hearts for these little guys and do so much to house and care for the injured bats. Good people!!! Good cause!!! “

Posted on , updated on by The Refuge

Local Bat Squad Wins First Place in Lego Challenge!

Laurel Mountain FLL team researches bats, wins best ‘Animal Allies’ project

A project focused on bats and a possible solution to the Zika Virus led the “Batter Up” First Lego League (FLL) team from Laurel Mountain Elementary School to win the Best Project Award at the latest FLL competition in December 2016.

The team consists of Laurel Mountain fourth-grade students Ram Sivaraman, Naithruv Kashyap, Tanvi Reddy, Kael Kanudson and Adam Menezes and fifth-grade students Michael Rao and Matthew Rao. The group began the research project in August 2016 as part of the FLL Animal Allies challenge, which tasked students to present projects that explained how animals and humans help each other.

“Bats play a vital role in pollinating our crops since bees and hummingbirds are active only during the day,” Niathurv said. “Bats also eat mosquitoes and many other insects and prevent many mosquito-borne viruses such as malaria, yellow fever and Zika.”

The team visited the bat colony at the South Congress Bridge in Austin and met with a bat specialist from Bat Conservation to understand threats bats face in Austin. As the team learned that the bats’ habitats are decreasing, renovating a bat house became part of the project, which they donated to the Zilker Botanical Garden. The team also built a website to report bat sightings to track bat movement in Central Texas.

“The ‘Batter Up’ team completed months of research and enriched our students’ knowledge on the importance of bats as part of the FLL project,” Laurel Mountain Principal Jan Richards said. “It’s inspiring to see our students take initiative to share their knowledge to better our community and environment.”

Posted on , updated on by The Refuge