iN NUMBERS: Penticton’s bat condo ready for roosting season

The BC Community Bat Program teamed up with the City of Penticton and the Penticton (snpink’tn) Indian Band to build a condo for bats as it’s getting into the height of bat roosting season.

The bat condo is about 16 feet off the ground and is going to provide a safe place for bats to roost.

“A bat condo is a maternity ward for bats,” Paula Rodriguez de la Vega, coordinator of the Okanagan Community Bat Program said in a press release.

“Each female bat gives birth to just one pup per year, and these structures provide essential seasonal habitat during spring, summer and fall.”

Bats can get a bad reputation because of vampires, rabies and their weird leathery wings, but they’re important and helpful creatures who rarely have rabies.

“We encourage residents to learn more about the local bat population. If your building is being used by bats for roosting, please follow best management practices”, Lucie Giraud-Telme from Penticton’s sustainability department said in the release.

“Residents can also help bats by planting native vegetation, turning off outside lights or installing motion-sensors, minimizing pesticide use and bringing cats inside after dusk during the summer when bats are active.”

Here are some numbers from the BC Community Bat Program:

• 85: Per cent. That’s a rough estimate of how much bat habitat has been lost since the 1800s in the Okanagan Valley bottom.
• 256: Bat roosts are in buildings around B.C. and they’re monitored by the Annual Bat Count.
• 1: That’s how many bat condos are in the Okanagan now that the one in Penticton has opened.
• 4,000: Bat tourists come through the Peachland Visitor Centre each year.
• 2,000: Bats lived in the ceiling of the Peachland Visitor Centre.
• 600: That’s how many mosquitos bats can eat in an hour.
• 15: Species of bat live in B.C.
• 0.5: Per cent of bats in B.C. have rabies.
• 4: Months, from May through August. That’s how long bat moms and their flightless young are together during roosting season in B.C.
• 9,050: Bat counts have been conducted across B.C. since 2012.
• 8: Bat friendly communities are in B.C., Peachland, Penticton, Dawson Creek, Richmond, Delta, Port Moody, Comox, The City of Langley and the Township of Langley.