It’s a batty world

by Robin Dorner
Editor in Chief

Like drinking coffee, chewing gum or burning candles? If so, you may be interested in knowing a bat helped produce those products. Yep, bats. Bats are among the most beneficial animals on earth.

Believe it or not, bats are vital for healthy ecosystems and enhance life in many ways. Fruit and nectar bats give us over 450 commercial products and 80 different medications through seed dispersal and pollination according to Bat World Sanctuary, Inc.

In fact, up to 98 percent of all rainforest regrowth comes from seeds that have been spread by fruit bats. Insect-eating bats are literal vacuum cleaners of the night skies, eating millions upon millions of harmful bugs. They protect us by eating insect-pests that destroy crops as well as insects that cause human disease.

Ande Spenser, owner of Oklahoma City’s Once Upon A Silver Moon has a Community Altar dedicated to bats. Ande says, “Bats are not only cute, they are important and they are sweet. They are not spooky at all.”

She thinks people associate bats with rodents because they look like mice, but they are not Rodentia, they are Chiroptera, meaning hand wing mammal.

Spenser’s Community Altar donations go to Bat World Sanctuary. “I just found out about them and wanted to help the bats in some way.”

Spenser said she thrives on coffee and knew bats were how coffee beans were pollinated.

As for her funding to Bat World Sanctuary, “I think it helps buy supplies to help them manage emergency drop-offs for when they get dehydrated, animal attacks and other things that may bring a bat into the sanctuary,” she said. “I don’t earmark the money – it’s however they want to spend it. I just want to assist in operations. I know to them every penny matters.”

She encourages people to watch their “batcams” – especially ‘Little Drac’, who is a little orphan bat on their site that they rescued. They made a video about him and that’s how they won her heart.

For information about Once Upon A Silver Moon visit www.onceuponasilvermoon.com or see their ad on page 16. For information on Bat World Sanctuary, visit www.batworld.org.

The Gayly- 4/21/2016 @ 11:24 AM CDT