Bat Tower to Be Safe, Educational, Environmentally Friendly

The Temple Terrace City Council has given thumbs-up to construction of a bat tower along the Hillsborough River, an environmentally friendly structure that could once again become an icon of our unique community.

The city is working in partnership with the Temple Terrace Preservation Society (TTPS), which is spearheading the bat tower project. Plans call for building the structure at Riverhills Park.

Recently, some residents raised concerns about potential health and safety risks to those living near the park, as well as park visitors. The Temple Terrace Preservation Society has investigated the matter thoroughly and found that the tower will be safe, interesting, educational, environmentally friendly and even financially beneficial, said Preservation Society President Tim Lancaster.

Some have asked about the safety of a bat house located in proximity to a residential area. Will the bats transmit rabies? Will people become sick because of the bat droppings (guano)? Will they attack people? Will they roost in people’s homes?

All of these concerns are valid and have been researched thoroughly while developing the project, Lancaster said. In fact, all of these issues have been examined by bat experts from the Florida Bat Conservancy, which supports the project. The experts say any risk posed by the tower and bats is very minimal.

“We’re not interested in creating problems for residents,” Lancaster said. “All these concerns have been thoroughly researched, and the risk posed by the tower and the bats is remote at best.”

Some say they’re concerned the structure might affect the view of the river from outside the park, such as from nearby homes and those passing by on the street.  Actually, the tower will have a small footprint, just 10-feet wide at the base, with a perimeter fence around it. It will be obscured by a large tree, and will not be intrusive.

Moreover, the bat tower will provide many benefits to the community, providing a “green” sustainable habitat for bats, reducing the harmful insect population, potentially reducing the amount of pesticide needed to combat mosquitoes, recreating a much admired historic icon and establishing a unique attractor for the City of Temple Terrace.

Bat towers are successful in other areas of the country. There’s no reason the Temple Terrace Bat Tower can’t be a great success for our community.

For more information about this project, read the Bat Tower Project Q&A below or visit the website at www.battower.com.

Temple Terrace Bat Tower Project Q&A

Q: Why build the bat tower?
There are many benefits including: providing a "green" sustainable habitat for bats, reducing the harmful insect population, the potential for reduced pesticide use to combat mosquitos, recreating a much admired historic icon, and establishing a unique attractor for the City of Temple Terrace (while also offering educational opportunities for youngsters and adults in the community).

Q: How was the location for the bat tower determined?
Many possible sites were explored, but the approved location provides the best option for a successful bat roost. The most important factor is a site conducive to attracting bats. Other locations within Riverhills Park have been evaluated, but the approved spot is the only viable option when considering its proximity to the river, trees and homes, as well as the city's desire for best use of the park space.

Q: How many bats will be in the tower?
The bat tower will have the capacity for 600,000 bats, but the projected colony size is estimated to be around 100,000 to 200,000. We can control the size of the colony by how we construct the interior roost space.

Q: How will the bat tower impact the view of the river?
The tower will have little impact on the view of the river from outside the park, such as from nearby residences, bicyclists and other passersby. The tower is only 10-feet wide, and most of the structure will be obstructed from street view by a large tree. The Preservation Society has gone to great lengths to ensure residences will not be impacted by the tower.

Q: Is it possible to contract a disease from bats?
The two diseases most commonly associated with bats are rabies and histoplasmosis. The chances of acquiring either from a bat are extremely remote, experts say. Histoplasmosis is a disease caused by a fungus that occurs naturally in soil, but flourishes when it is enriched by bird or bat droppings (guano). The bats have nothing to do with the actual transmission of the disease. It can be contracted when the soil is disturbed and the spores from the fungus are inhaled. However many people do not get sick, and most of those who do incur only mild respiratory symptoms. In rare cases, when large
quantities are inhaled or an individual has a weakened immune system, it can be serious. Our tower will have a hopper at the bottom designed to contain the droppings inside the structure. The area around the base of the tower will be filled with rocks/gravel to eliminate any chance for any guano not contained in the tower to mix with soil. There also will be a perimeter fence around the structure. Numerous bat houses, both large and small, have been installed throughout Florida over the decades and there have been no reported cases of histoplasmosis due to bat droppings from a bat house, or from bats in a building. In fact, there has been only one recorded case of histoplasmosis related to bats in the state of Florida, and that occurred in the 1970s involving children who were playing in a cave where bats where roosting. They were digging around in the dirt and throwing the guano at the bats.

Regarding rabies, a study conducted to determine the prevalence of rabies in a colony found it to be only .025 of 1percent. This study was conducted out West where millions of bats were roosting together in a damp cave environment. In rare instances where a bat does contract the disease, it exhibits symptoms for 3-4 days, becomes paralyzed, falls to the ground and dies.

Bats can only transmit rabies to someone during the 3-4 day period they are suffering from it, and then only if a person handles the bat and is bitten by it, or the bat’s saliva comes into contact with a wound or mucous membrane. Bats don't attack humans, whether ill or healthy, and if a bat living in the tower did get the disease, it would likely die inside the tower, or inside the perimeter fence. While it's not impossible for a human to interact with a bat with the disease, the chance is extremely remote (and the interaction would almost
certainly be instigated by the human). The University of Florida bat house has housed a colony of 100,000 bats for 20 years. It is in the middle of the University of Florida campus and dozens of visitors arrive each night to watch the bats emerge. No one has contracted rabies or histoplasmosis as a result.

Q: What about bat guano (bat droppings)?
The Florida Bat Conservancy says nearly all of the guano will accumulate under the bat house. As mentioned above, this roost will have a hopper at the bottom designed to contain the droppings inside the tower. When the bats emerge from the tower, they will fly off to hunt for food. They will not just “swarm” around the immediate area and deposit droppings on homes. The Preservation Society plans to harvest the guano from the tower regularly to sell. Guano is considered an excellent natural fertilizer. The proceeds will be used to maintain the tower. Guano is dry and crumbly, and virtually odorless, not like wet bird droppings.

Q: Will children at Riverhills Elementary School, or those playing in the park, be safe from the bats?
Yes. Bats are nocturnal and will never be outside the roost during daylight hours. They don't come out until dusk. The school has plans to fence in its own perimeter, and the tower will have its own perimeter fence, so no one will be able to get within 15-feet of the tower. The only caution would be to inform children (and adults as well) not to pick up or handle a bat found on the ground. Signs will be posted to that effect. That is an educational message people should be aware of regardless of whether there is a bat house in the area. 

Q: Will bats try to infest my home?
No. Bats seek out suitable habitats for their roosts. The tower is designed to provide the ideal habitat specific to what bats prefer. On top of that, the only way a bat can infest your home is if your house is in a state of disrepair. There has to be a point of access for a bat, such as holes in soffits, vent screens, broken or missing siding, etc. Bats can't claw or chew their way into a home the way a rat, raccoon, opossum or squirrel might. Bats are already present throughout Temple Terrace, and this has not been an issue.

If you have other questions, please contact Tim Lancaster, president of the Temple Terrace Preservation Society, at info@templeterracepreservation.com.