Bats inhabiting California bridge die from heat

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Bats inhabiting California bridge die from heat

Postby Wayne Harrison » Aug 4, 2006 2:01 pm

DAVID SIDERS
Record Staff Writer
Published Friday, Aug 4, 2006

STOCKTON - Dozens of bats, weakened by record heat that recently scorched the city, fell from their roost under a bridge in south Stockton.

They died or were killed once they landed.

The Mexican free-tailed bats, which do not pant or sweat, regularly emerge from their roosts to hang in a cool breeze. They likely fainted or were pulled down by other bats that fainted, said Dharma Webber, the director of a Placerville-based bat rescue group.

About 75 dead or near-dead bats were collected in two days last week from under a Center Street bridge adjacent to the Greater Stockton Emergency Food Bank on Scotts Avenue, city Animal Control supervisor Tom Ramirez said. Across the city, officials typically collect one or two bats each month, he said.

bodies and excrement that landed on the hoods of cars parked below tipped officials off to the roost.

"Baby bats have been falling all over this state, and they're falling in Stockton," Webber said.

<a href="http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060804/NEWS01/608040333/1001">Full Story</a>
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