Page 13 - ECF-LIA-June-Summer-2024-flipbook

GOING BATTY!
PROTECTING ALBERTA’S ECOLOGICAL SUPERHEROES By Liam Newbigging
hen the Alberta Community Bat Program first started in 2015, things looked bleak for bats in North America. A fungal disease known as white-nose syndrome hit the eastern part of the continent hard starting in 2006, and while it hadn’t made it out west yet, more than six million hibernating bats are estimated to have already perished from the illness.
Cory Olson, the Program Coordinator for the Alberta Community Bat Program (ACBP), knew that if Alberta’s bats were to stand a fighting chance against the disease, they would need some help from their human neighbours. “We began our program to try to change public perceptions of bats and to raise awareness of bat-friendly management techniques so that we can give them the best chances of survival,” says Olson.
Now, more than eight years later, the ACBP is an official program of the Wildlife Conservation Society and continues to grow. White-nose syndrome remains an issue out east, but, as far as research can see, endangered hibernating bats like the little brown myotis and the northern myotis are still doing OK in Alberta. →
IF ALBERTA’S BATS WERE TO STAND A FIGHTING CHANCE AGAINST THE DISEASE, THEY WOULD NEED SOME HELP
FROM THEIR HUMAN NEIGHBOURS.
Little Brown Myotis Photo Cory Olson
ecfoundation.org 13