Arrest threat after reports bats set up in former church

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Arrest threat after reports bats set up in former church

Postby Cheryl Jones » Jul 30, 2007 9:26 pm

Arrest threat after reports bats set up in former church
By Nick Evans
This is Lancashire (UK)

ANYONE who enters a former baptist church is being threatened with arrest after reports that endangered bats were living in the building.

Police have pledged to keep round-the-clock surveillance of Waterbarn Baptist Church, Stacksteads, until a bat survey is carried out.

Earlier this year the church was sold to developers who plan to turn it into a community theatre.
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Worshippers of the baptist church still meet in a school room at the back of a church.

Reverend David Livermore said neither he nor his congregation had seen any bats and that he wanted the police to clarify whether their order also banned parishioners from entering the building.

The order - made under the Wildlife and Countryside Act - is explained in a letter posted on the door of the chapel Police are now trying to arrange a meeting with the owners so they carry out a bat survey.
Read on...
http://tinyurl.com/2tn9kj
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Postby tncaver » Jul 31, 2007 12:18 pm

Without knowing all the details, this sounds like another over reaction
by the cave police and environmental fanatics. If the parishioners
have not seen the bats and they have been visiting the church on a
regular basis, it seems that a compromise could have easily been
worked out. It is likely that the bats are in the attic areas of the church
and that area could have been locked off rather than closing down the
entire church.
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Postby Cheryl Jones » Jul 31, 2007 5:36 pm

Maybe the bats like the music! :bat:

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Postby tncaver » Jul 31, 2007 7:14 pm

Cheryl,
I guarantee you those bats like something about that church. Maybe it is
the music, maybe the dry attic, maybe God's presence. But definitely something. But so do the people that use that church. I find it ironic that bats are now more important than people. All people should have precedence in a place that humans built and maintain. It is the bats that are the invaders just like the illegal Mexicans invading America without permission. Next thing you know, the NAACP and PETA will be wanting to evict the parishioners at the church.
Sad that the local police are already doing it. I don't remember seeing anything in the constitution about "bat's rights".
Just so you and every one else knows, I am a caver and have been since
1966, but I am becoming ashamed of my fellow cavers because they have
become such fanatics concerning caver related ethics.
There is a line of normalcy that can be crossed concerning anything that
people love. I love caves but I don't put them before the welfare of humans that have nothing to do with bats or other cave dwelling flora and fauna.
Everyone should learn to maintain a balance and maintain common sense
about "everything". Yet it seems that Americans are all becoming fanatics
in one direction or another without any common ground. Pitiful.
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Postby Cheryl Jones » Jul 31, 2007 8:45 pm

The church is in Great Britain, not the US. I know the UK has some pretty strong laws protecting bats. Maybe someone on the forum can fill us so we won't have to go digging around the Internet to find them. :waving:

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Postby paul » Aug 1, 2007 5:25 am

Yes, the bat protection laws here in the UK are very stringent - but we do have quite a few endangered species. You have to be licensed to handle bats and may not disturb them. That is the law - as the reference "The order - made under the Wildlife and Countryside Act - is explained in a letter posted on the door of the chapel... "

HOWEVER - I think tncaver has got the story WRONG.

Arrest threat after reports bats set up in former church
By Nick Evans
This is Lancashire (UK)

ANYONE who enters a former baptist church is being threatened with arrest after reports that endangered bats were living in the building.

Police have pledged to keep round-the-clock surveillance of Waterbarn Baptist Church, Stacksteads, until a bat survey is carried out.

Earlier this year the church was sold to developers who plan to turn it into a community theatre.

Worshippers of the baptist church still meet in a school room at the back of a church.


It is a FORMER church.

It has been SOLD TO DEVELOPERS hence the worshippers meeting in the school room - nothing to do with the bats.

Many baptist chapels (we have a few in our village) tend to be single, large rooms without spires, attics, etc.

It is the DEVELOPERS who are being prevented from disturbing the bats no doubt during some major reconstruction of the old chapel to convert into a community theatre.

Reverend David Livermore said neither he nor his congregation had seen any bats and that he wanted the police to clarify whether their order also banned parishioners from entering the building.


I'm afraid it doesn't matter whether the Reverend or any of his congregation have seen any of the bats, if there is a chance their actions may disturb the bats, then they also would be prevented from entering. Mind you, since the chapel has been sold, they may also be prevented from doing so by the new owners. They can still carry on meeting in their new location as mentioned in the article.

We haven't got "bat police", just ordinary police, who are required to uphold the law as it stands. :-)
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Postby tncaver » Aug 1, 2007 7:21 am

No, I got the story right, but I may not have all the facts. Depends
on how that article was written. BTW, there are ways to remove bats
without harming them but locking bats out instead of the people
might not be legal in the UK.
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Postby Cheryl Jones » Aug 1, 2007 4:39 pm

We haven't got "bat police", just ordinary police,

Rats! And here I was ready to buy my airline ticket to fly over see them! I was imagining their Lycra uniforms, cape-wings, bat echolocation receiver.... :rofl: :bat: :batman cop: (use your imagination for that one!)
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Postby tncaver » Aug 1, 2007 4:53 pm

Cheryl,
You have a good sense of humor. :kewl:
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