Yolo County bats are no cause for concern.
by Carlos Guerrero cguerrero@dailydemocrat.com
May 6, 2020 11:45 am
As the weather is warming, more and more bats will be returning to Yolo County from their winter migration. But is that a cause for concern for the area?
A negative stigma has always followed bats stemming from fictional associations with vampires to nonfictional links to rabies and coronaviruses. A recharged villainization is taking place thanks to the connections between the outbreak of COVID-19 and Chinese Horseshoe bats.
“This villainization of bats is not new, it’s just much worse right now because of the current coronavirus situation,” said Nistara Randhawa, a veterinary epidemiologist, and a postdoctoral scholar at the UC Davis One Health Institute. “The problem comes when we go out and start disturbing spaces that bats live.”
Corky Quirk, a program coordinator for the Yolo Basin Foundation and a volunteer with the wildlife rescue group, Northern California Bats, said that she has been receiving a variety of calls form people that are concerned about whether or not the bats in North America carry the coronavirus.
“I appreciate when people call and ask,” Quirk said. “Sometimes, people are right, and sometimes they are wrong when they jump to their own conclusions, so I’m glad people are looking for more accurate information.”
If a bat is at your home, Quirk suggests gently nudging them at dusk to make them uncomfortable, so they leave, instead of opting to kill or hurt the animal.
According to Quirk, there are around 45 species of bats in the United States, 25 in California, and 17 in northern California.
Around a fifth of all the world’s mammals are bats.
“The DNA of this current virus may be traced to a species of Horseshoe bat in Asia,” Quirk said. “Bats in the United States evolved away from the common ancestor millions and millions of years ago. They are not even closely related. They just happen to be in the same order of animals.”
Woodland buildings are well known for having bats, as are the ones in Davis and West Sacramento. The positives bats provide far outweigh any potential fears over diseases.
“People should really think about what the bat does,” Randhawa said. “The bats are eating pests and insects keeping the insect population down. In Southern California, we have bats that pollinate. They are extremely valuable to the ecosystem.”
Bats may be more likely to get sick from humans than the other way around.
“No, people should not be concerned if they see a bat,” Randhawa said. “The cases are happening because of human to human transmission. The likelihood of humans giving COVID-19 to bats we don’t quite know, but the likelihood of bats giving it to humans is extremely unlikely because these bats have just evolved differently.”
There is such a concern in the other direction that the United States Fish and Wildlife Service has asked scientists to stop bat studies temporarily, for the animal’s safety.
“In California, they are allowing us to take bats into rescue, but they are asking us not to release them once they have healed”, Quirk said. “I’ve had a bat that was trapped in a building in Woodland for a couple of weeks now. Normally I would let her go, but she will stay with me indefinitely until the research is complete as to whether or not humans can make the bats sick.”
As a part of her work with the Yolo Basin Foundation, Quirk is involved in the Bat Talk and Walk event that takes place in June out in the Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area.
Following a 45-minute indoor presentation on bat natural history, a group will carpool out to the Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area to watch the “flyout” of the largest colony of Mexican free-tailed bats in California. The whole experience takes about three hours.
The event looks to be at risk of not happening this year.
First off out of concern for human health, we are waiting to see what the recommendations are for shelter in place,” Quirk said. “We are also discussing how those events could look different if indeed we are or aren’t able to begin to gather again. Whether it’s fewer people or something like that. We’ve looked into having a virtual walk as well.”
According to the Yolo Basin Foundation’s website, the 2020 Bat Talk and Walk session is on hold due to current shelter in place and social distancing recommendations
.”June is pretty far out, but we are trying to figure out alternatives,” Quirk said. “But there is nothing like seeing the animals fly. So I would be sad if we are not able to share that experience. If virtual is the case, then so be it, but we are hopeful that we will be able to share about the bats.”
But if it were to go on as planned, there should be no concern.
Something like the bat walk would be perfectly safe,” Randahawa said. “Your’e not getting close to the bats, and you’re not doing anything that will transfer anything to them.”