Bat World Sanctuary: Difference between revisions

▲The owner of Bat World Sanctuary, Amanda Lollar, was inspired to start the organization in 1989 when she discovered an injured [[Mexican free-tailed bat]] on her way to the bank. She put it in a box with food and water so that it could die a peaceful death, but the bat recovered and lived for another 18 months. Lollar named the bat "Sunshine," and sometimes refers to the sanctuary as "Sunshine's legacy."<ref name="BATS Magazine">{{cite web | url=http://www.batcon.org/index.php/media-and-info/bats-archives.html?task=viewArticle&magArticleID=914 | title=Bat World | publisher=www.batcon.org | work=BATS Magazine | date=Summer 1999 | accessdate=December 01, 2012 | author=Keller, Tiffany}}</ref> In 1995 Lollar published ''The Bat in my Pocket: A Memorable Friendship,'' a book about her experiences with Sunshine and Bat World Sanctuary.<ref>{{cite book | title=The Bat in My Pocket: A Memorable Friendship | publisher=Capra Press | author=Lollar, Amanda | year=1995 | isbn=0884964094}}</ref>

▲The original Bat World was built in a historic retail building in downtown [[Mineral Wells, Texas]]. In 1992 a much larger wild sanctuary was started just a block away from Bat World. It was sited in a two-story apartment building that was built in 1899, and had been vacant for years. Lollar purchased the building when she heard that the owner was selling it and planned to exterminate residing bats as part of the process. The hand-hewn [[sandstone]] construction of the building had crumbled over time, leaving cracks and openings ideal for bats to inhabit.<ref name="BATS Magazine"></ref> Two years later, in 1994, the sanctuary was officially founded<ref>{{Cite news | title = Where the Bats Are | newspaper = [[Dallas Morning News]] | location = [[Dallas, Texas]] | date = July 28, 2002 | url = http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=DM&p_theme=dm&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0F514E60F5B4F20D&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM | accessdate = April 16, 2011}}</ref> as a non-profit organization.<ref>[http://apps.irs.gov/app/eos/pub78Search.do?indexOfFirstRow=25&exemptTypeCode=&isDescending=false&totalResults=481&postDateTo=&ein1=&state=TX&dispatchMethod=searchCharities&postDateFrom=&country=US&city=&searchChoice=pub78&indexOfFirstRow=0&sortColumn=name&resultsPerPage=25&names=Bat+World+Sanctuary&zipCode=&deductibility=all IRS Exempt Organizations Search]</ref>

▲In June 2012, Bat World Sanctuary was awarded 6.1 million dollars in damages in its defamation lawsuit against a former volunteer.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.pegasusnews.com/news/2012/jun/18/bat-world-sanctuary-mineral-wells-61-million/ | title=Bat World Sanctuary in Mineral Wells wins $6.1 million judgment | work=Pegasus News | date=June 18, 2012 | accessdate=December 01, 2012 |last=Polling |first=Rebecca}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Barbee |first=Darren |title=Bat rescuer awarded $6.1 million in libel suit |url=http://www.star-telegram.com/2012/06/15/4036067/bat-rescuer-awarded-61-million.html |publisher=McClatchey Star-Telegram |date=15 June 2012 |accessdate=1 December 2012}}</ref>

▲==Research and Impact==

▲Bat World Sanctuary has been described as "the largest bat rescue center on the planet," with an estimated 20,000 Mexican free-tails inhabiting the sanctuary, plus a seasonal maternity colony of about 500 females who move in each spring. It holds about 150 non-releasable bats who live there permanently.<ref name="BATS Magazine"></ref>

▲There is a special area inside Bat World Sanctuary that serves as a rehabilitation center for sick or injured bats. It is a simulated natural habitat with different features that cater to specific types of bat in order to lower the stresses that bats experience from being captive. Annually, as many as 200 rehabilitated bats are released back to the wild.<ref name="BATS Magazine"></ref>

▲Lollar and the staff at the sanctuary have also launched a bat house project, where they would remove unwanted bats from local buildings free of charge as long as the building owners agreed to hang bat houses close to where the bats formerly entered the buildings. The bat houses were also provided for free through the program.<ref>{{cite journal | url=http://www.batcon.org/index.php/media-and-info/bats-archives.html?task=viewArticle&magArticleID=654 | title=Bat Houses: An Educational Opportunity | journal=BATS Magazine | year=1994 | month=Summer | volume=12 | issue=2}}</ref>

▲Observations by volunteers for Bat World Sanctuary and [[Bat Conservation International]] led researchers at the [[University of Texas at Austin]] and [[Texas A&M]] to conclude that male bats create songs to attract females and warn other males to stay away.<ref>{{Cite news | last = Patel | first = Vimal | title = Males bats' mating songs could be valuable for research | newspaper = [[Bryan College Station Eagle]] | location = [[Bryan-College Station, Texas]] | date = August 29, 2009 | url =http://www.theeagle.com/news/a_m/article_a725def7-48bb-5de9-9067-b6e40201bf3b.html | accessdate = April 16, 2011}}</ref> The sanctuary has also hosted a colony of bats to assist with research conducted at the [[University of Colorado at Denver]],<ref>{{cite journal | url=http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0007781 | title=Chemically-Mediated Roostmate Recognition and Roost Selection by Brazilian Free-Tailed Bats (Tadarida brasiliensis) | author=Englert, Amy C.; Greene, Michael J. | journal=PLoS ONE | year=2009 | month=November | volume=4 | issue=11 | doi=10.1371}}</ref> and has assisted scientists at [[Cornell University]] in the study of acoustic mimicry of visual warning signals by echolocating bats.<ref>{{cite journal | title=Acoustic mimicry in a predator–prey interaction | author=Barber, Jesse R.; Conner, William E. | journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America | year=2007 | month=May | volume=104 | issue=22 | pages=9331-9334 | doi=10.1073}}</ref>