Are there bats in illinois

These studies help us understand bat behavior and habitat use. Although bats may occasionally be found in or near buildings, the myth that they attack people is not true. No blood-feeding vampire bats occur in Illinois, although vampire bats, which range from Mexico into South America, do feed on the blood of sleeping animals. They approach from the ground and make a small cut, from which they lap up the blood.

Even among the vampire bats, feeding on humans is rare; feeding on livestock and birds is more typical. Using night vision to watch the nets, we typically observe many more bats flying over the nets rather than flying into them. Bats use echolocation to catch tiny insects in the dark and swoop through dense forests and in caves.

Three species, the Indiana bat, the gray bat and the northern long-eared bat, are federally protected. The northern long-eared bat population is shrinking rapidly, scientists said, in large part because of white-nose syndrome, a fungus that attacks bats while they hibernate in caves or mines for the winter. Two other species, the little brown bat and the tri-colored bat, may be up for protection in the future.

All of those varieties of bat live in Illinois. The endangered Indiana bat, which is closely monitored by the U. Fish and Wildlife Service and researchers, has declined from more than , in to about , this year, according to wildlife service statistics. The population has dropped significantly in the Northeast and Appalachia regions since white-nose syndrome arrived in , though the numbers in the Ozark-Central region, which includes Illinois, have been mostly stable since the disease appeared.

More than 69, bats live at the Magazine Mine in downstate Illinois, where the population has remained flat the last two years. Because bats tend to hibernate in dense clusters in caves and mines, they are difficult for scientists to count.

Scientists are working to develop a North American system for monitoring and analyzing all bat species in the near future. But ongoing studies show bats are on the decline numberswise. WNS has killed millions of bats of multiple species that hibernate during the winter and an ever-growing number of wind turbines continues to kill thousands of bats every fall as they migrate south for the winter. Scientists say 5. Scientists across the Midwest, including in Chicago, have been monitoring bat populations in order to obtain a sense of how the creatures are faring.

At the Lincoln Park Zoo, Liza Lehrer, the assistant director of the Urban Wildlife Institute, and a team of scientists are monitoring bats at sites across Chicagoland, setting up acoustic monitoring stations to count species and monitor bat activity at locations in the city and suburbs.

Lehrer said data from the monitoring program has shown that most bat species are experiencing a downward trend across Cook County.

Recorded calls from three species in particular, the little brown bat, the northern long-eared bat and the tri-colored bat, have dropped significantly. During previous summers, Lehrer said close to calls per species were tallied, while this year only 10 calls each were recorded by the program.

Two of those species, the little brown bat and the tri-colored bat, may be the ones most affected by new changes to the rules of the Endangered Species Act.

When the rabies antigen is present, fluorescent apple-green areas appear under a fluorescence microscope. If rabies virus is not present, there will be no staining. Rabies is fatal in mammals, such as bats, and humans — the small number of people who've survived rabies without treatment were left with severe brain damage. The good news is rabies is treatable provided that a post-exposure prophylaxis regimen of human rabies immune globulin HIRG is administered immediately following an exposure.

Unlike years past, when persons bitten by a rabid or potentially rabid animal were subjected to painful daily shots in the stomach over several weeks, human rabies immune globulins are injected near the bite, preferably on the day someone is bitten or exposed. This is followed by three additional rabies vaccinations over a two-week period, as explained by the Minnesota Department of Health. Another reason you want to save the bat's head is because the regimen of post-exposure rabies vaccinations can cost thousands of dollars and isn't covered by most health insurance carriers.

Unfortunately, the family's son chased the bat outside before the animal could be caught. Once rabies symptoms appear — fever, headache, fatigue, over anxiety, paralysis, hydrophobia and overproduction of saliva — you're a goner. Approximately 50 people went through post-exposure treatment. The bottom line is when you're dealing with rabies is not to wait and see if you're going to get symptoms. Bats in the United States are protected species because of the valued role they play eating skeeters and other destructive pests, such as the lumbering gypsy tree moths that can defoliate an entire town's tree canopy or a forest in a New York minute.

It is against the law, however, to kill or poison bats when removing them from buildings. Bat exclusion is also prohibited when pups are still nursing and in the roost. Get Bats Out employs a one-way device over openings where bats enter into eaves and attics. The device allows the bats to exit humanely but not re-enter a home, essentially "bat proofing" the home.

Professional removal service also includes cleanup of guano poop , which, if piled up in your attic or inside your walls, can lead to histoplasmosis , a serious lung infection caused by breathing in spores from bat or bird droppings.

Coppola, the senior bat exclusion technician who has spent the past six years chasing bats out of buildings, said the worst infestation he encountered was a brownstone in downtown Chicago where he found a colony of more than 1, bats. I spent at least a week catching 50 or 60 bats a night with a net, then letting them go. Every time I thought I had caught them all, there would be more crawling out of the woodwork. Lorraine Swanson , Patch Staff. Find out what's happening in Chicago with free, real-time updates from Patch.

Let's go! Shockingly, most of Illinois' rabid bats were found inside homes or other buildings. Little Browns and Big Browns Illinois is home to 12 species of bats, most weighing about an ounce. Photo: Wisconsin Bats Female bats give birth live, usually to one or two pups.