On Sunday, March 24th, at Seminole County Fire Station 42 in Geneva beginning at 2:00p.m, dedicated members of the Boy Scouts of America Troop #837 will begin the construction and installation of a “bat house” in the immediate area of the station. A colony of bats has taken up residency in the attic of the fire station. The scouts have been researching about bats, bat habitats and bat house construction.
The colony has continued to grow over the years and this partnership with the Boy Scouts of America has created an opportunity to safely re-locate the bats. Lt. Don McBryde lead the research to safely provide them with an alternative habitat, such as a bat house. “I contacted the local BSA Troop in Geneva and asked if they would be interested in becoming involved as a community service project. The Troop answered with an enthusiastic, yes”, said Lt. McBryde.
Troop #837 is a group of 10 young gentlemen living in the Geneva area. They are sponsored by the Geneva Community Church of God, and they are led by Mr.& Mrs. Randy and Cindy Deavers. They have decided that they now want to use bat house construction, sales and installation as a primary fund-raising event, which will benefit bats, communities and the Boy Scouts of America! Seminole County Professional Firefighters Local 3254 donated $150.00 in Home Depot gift cards to finance the construction of the bat house.
Removal of the bats will involve the use of a non-lethal “bat exclusion device”, which is similar to netting. This “netting” is draped over the roofline where the bats are accessing the attic. The bats will crawl through the netting to feed at night, but they will not re-enter the area due to the obstacle that the netting creates. Bat guano will be collected from the roosting site and used to attract them to their new home. The female bats will soon be birthing and rearing their young, so the project must be completed by the end of March. Bats are protected from “exclusion from their habitat” from April 14 through August 16 in the State of Florida.
