Sad news for bats

Bats have often gotten a bad rap as blood-sucking omens of evil. Lately, though, a more comprehensive understanding of their significance as pollinators and insect predators has been gained.

So this is not good: Bats Perish, and No One Knows Why.

In what is one of the worst calamities to hit bat populations in the United States, on average 90 percent of the hibernating bats in four caves and mines in New York have died since last winter.

I once saw a mother bat nursing twins while hanging upside-down in a cave. I was amazed then, and now, how like a small flying bear she was, how much of an individual she was among the thousands of bats "just like her" in the same chamber. It's a wonderful sight, awe-inspiring and overwhelming. I can only imagine how the folks who are finding the massive die-offs must feel.

“It’s just that I know I’m never going to see these guys again,” [the scientist studying the bats] said. “We’re the last to see this concentration of bats in our lifetime.”

So sad.

Sorry folks. I know this post is incredibly depressing. I also know that today, that's the news.