The Editor,
I remember a time when bats were seen and heard flying through the air every evening, feeding on insects. Now, I am lucky if I see a single bat over a period of a few weeks.
Although some people are afraid of bats and associate them to a rodent, they are not rodents with wings, nor are they a threat to humans. I believe mosquitoes are the bigger threat when it comes to spreading disease.
Bats are fascinating nocturnal mammals who rarely attack human beings, although they have been known to swoop down out of curiosity more than anything.
I would like to see some installations of bat houses, similar to a bird house around the dyke area's bird sanctuary, or maybe a manmade rock structure with a cave-like entrance built to lure in bats to roost.
Since they eat their body weight in insects nightly, a colony or multiple colonies of bats would reduce the population of mosquitoes.
Forget repellants and pesticides. Let's let nature curb the mosquito population with a more natural method.
Andrew Caras
Richmond
