Are bats good or bad to have around?

You'll often hear that bats are dirty pests that people would be better off without.  Is this true?  Not really.  It turns out that many of the stories about bats are just myths.  Bats are not dirty and they generally don't bother people at all.  Bats will sometimes move into buildings or other places that people don't want them, but they're just looking for a home!  Bats are also beneficial in many ways.  In the US, most bat species eat insects.   Of course,  we would all really like bats to eat mosquitoes, but mosquitoes are generally just too small for bats to bother with, so they are not going to do a lot to help us get rid of those insect pests.  However, bats do eat many species of insects that would like to eat our crops or gardens, so keeping bats around is a good thing.

You also hear about bats carrying disease and making people sick.  It is true that bats can have rabies and you should never disturb a bat.  You may have also heard recent news reports on bats carrying diseases like SARS.  While the evidence is strong that bats were the initial source of SARS, this occurred in China, and further spreading of the disease seems to have come from human to human contact (click here for more information).  

In general, most wild animals are afraid of humans, and bats are no exception.  If you disturb a bat, it will try to defend itself in the only way it knows how: by biting.  If you are bitten by a bat, you should seek medical attention to make sure you are properly treated.  However, bats do not seek humans out, so if you leave them alone, they will generally do the same for you!  If you see a bat in a place where it should not be, notify the appropriate authorities (generally the Department of Animal Control) so that trained professionals can handle the situation.

It's also important to leave bats alone for another reason - it's better for the bats.  Bats tend to like to live in places with precise conditions, which include limited disturbance from large animals like humans.  If you bother the bats, they may feel threatened and move on to a new place.  This is especially bad during the winter months when many species of North American bats are hibernating.  Since they are required to live off their stored fat (since there are few insects around for them to eat) they can die if they are disturbed when they should be hibernating.  So for their sake and yours, please just leave the bats alone!