UPDATE: April 14th, 2024, 1:50 PM MST
THE BATS ARE FREE! Thankfully, Austin Bat Refuge volunteers took action and started removing the foam late last night. They were confronted by the maintenance person who then called the apartment manager off-site. The volunteers were told to stop, but they continually educated the people about the danger of bats trapped inside to the tenants and were eventually allowed to continue removing the foam. Tomorrow, exclusion tubes will be installed and the bats will be removed safely and humanely.
UPDATE: April 13th, 2024, 6:00 PM MST
Local news has reached out to the apartment complex management without success.
ORIGINAL POST: April 13th, 2024, 3:00 PM MST
Please read this in its entirety and PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD:
Yesterday evening we learned of a large colony of pregnant free-tailed bats who were sealed into an apartment complex. This photo is a small sampling of the areas that were foamed.
The bats have been living there peacefully for years, however, a new tenant complained and the apartment complex took drastic measures. Rather than doing a safe and humane exclusion (eviction) of the bats, they instead decided to use spray foam to entomb the bats in hopes they will slowly die.
The police in San Antonio were contacted, and allegedly cites a NONEXISTANT law of USFWS, that the bats should be killed when inside a building. To add to this, Texas Parks and Wildlife allow the indiscriminate killings of bats when they are inside a building occupied by humans.
However, sealing the bats in will not work. They will not just stay there and slowly die, they will try to escape and end up INSIDE apartments, where they are likely to come into contact with children and pets. If an exposure occurs, the apartment complex and associated owners will be liable.
Another issue is that thousands of decaying bodies will end up inside the walls and ceiling of the apartments, causing a horrible odor issue that will not dissipate until the walls and ceiling are torn down and replaced. The last time and apartment complex did this, they were forced to relocate all of their tenants into hotels at the apartment owners expense.
ALL OF THIS CAN BE AVOIDED IF THEY SIMPLY REMOVE THE FOAM AND THEN PERFORM A HUMANE BAT EXCLUSION.
The apartment complex and the property owners do not have Facebook pages so we are encouraging folks to contact these companies through the information below. It is not too late to save the bats so please act quickly!
THE FOAM MUST COME DOWN!
Hillside Manor Apartments
501 Koehler Ct, San Antonio, TX 78223
(210) 533-9480
You can leave a voicemail. You can also contact your local news.
That’s insane. Where I live if you get bats in your attic, you can’t do shit. You’re just a bat mommy or daddy from that day forward. You’re not allowed to even evict them, and definitely can’t kill them.
I’m sure you can evict them but there are laws about what time of the year and how it is done.
I installed a bathouse before evicting mine. The company installed metal slides so they could fly out but not back inside.
We had bats and were told we couldn’t evict them. I just looked it up and the information is spotty, but it looks like you’re right and it has to be the right time of year. You can’t remove them if they have dependent young.
How do I become a bat mommy? I’ve wanted this for ages and haven’t been able to make my dream a reality.
Just remove one of the screens that cover the ventilation holes on your house. The bats will move in if they’re in the area. But they’re not good for your attic. They’ll drop guano everywhere and make a mess. You can also hear them moving around, which isn’t great. Otherwise you can mount a bat house, which is the far better option.
All we get here are a ton of starlings if the vents aren’t covered up.
Those are probably just as messy and far louder.
First you must find a bat daddy.
A… Batman??
Do not encourage bats in your house. Setup a bathouse or two (different locations, different sunshine levels because they are picky).
I was lucky because they weren’t in my house but in a gap of ledger board over my porch. The amount of poop a dozen bats will generate is overwhelming. I had 1" thick layer of bat feces (guano) per week. The smell was really bad if I didn’t keep it clean.
Do you have any pets? Imagine if you let your cat or dog poop in one spot and let it pile up week after week without ever cleaning it.