Bats:
Yes they are back and ready to get out there and kill thousands of moths and mosquitoes for us again! Bats only eat bugs here in the US. Bats are born naked and pink. They are mammals and nurse while being carried by the mother until they are too large. They are then placed in nurseries and the mother returns to feed them during the night. If you find one alive on the ground, it needs help. Call a rehabber or animal control for advice. If it is in your home, it is not trying to be there * Open a door or window and gently try to get it to go outside. Bats are non-aggressive, will not try to fly into your hair, they do not suck blood, nor do they want to be in the house. If you do need to contain a bat LEATHER GLOVES are the only safe option, as they do have REALLY sharp teeth, and when scared, will bite. Place the animal in a cardboard box with SMALL air holes (they can get through a hole ¼" in size), and call for advice. Always make sure to check and see where he got in the first place. Next to chimneys, a/c units un-patched attic holes are the usual suspects. Bats can and should be humanely excluded from a building (at the appropriate time of year only) for their safety and that of the people living there as well. Please ask a rehabber for advice with this.
(*If a bat is found in a room with a sleeping, debilitated, elderly person, or very young child, it must be captured and sent in for testing by state protocol. This is because the above groups may not be able to effectively communicate that they have been bitten.)
** We are loosing thousands of bats here in the East to what is called "white nose syndrome". There is nothing conclusive as to the true cause of death at present. Please put up a bat house and wait to exclude bats until August when the pups are old enough to leave on their own. They help keep mosquito numbers down, and ergo diseases like West Nile Virus and Eastern Equine Encephalitis. Both are in the state, and the latter can cause coma, permanent brain damage, and death..please wear bug spray and rid your yard of all standing water; even tarps and old bike tires are larva heaven.