Bats Plague Fort Myers Neighborhood
It's a problem that only plagues a Fort Myers neighborhood at night. When the sun goes down the bats come out. Now neighbors are scared, frustrated and running for cover.
At dusk, the Albright household always gets a little more company. Robin Albright first noticed a couple of bats coming out of a pole and flying around at night. Now she says a few has turned into a colony living in her carport.
"And it was like somebody said come on guys and they just poured out of the top of the column, like 30, 40," Albright said.
And the bats ventured out.
"This bat just starts flying over our heads and we had to duck because it was so close," said Carly Miesner, a next-door neighbor.
Bats can squeeze into holes the size of a dime, and Tuesday night NBC2 saw at least 15 of them fly out of a crevice about a half an inch wide.
They live inside a cement pole during the day. A local pest control worker says not only can bats carry disease, but the stuff they leave behind can also be harmful.
"The accumulation of the bat droppings will grow funguses which in turn are airborne illnesses," said Gene Kepes of Critter Control in Fort Myers.
Now Robin wants to get rid of these creatures, but it's illegal to kill bats in the state of Florida as one bat can eat up to 500 insects an hour.
"Cause I didn't think one or two bats would eat that much, but now that I know how many more there are there, the mosquitoes haven't been too bad lately," Albright said.
Pest control services wait until the bats leave their hiding spot, then set up nets so the bats can't go back in and have to relocate. So until the bats find a new home, neighbors are learning how to cope with the problem.
"It you don't bother them, they won't bother you, just like bees," Miesner said.
Credits: WZVN - ABC-7.com
