Do you have roll up blinds or power awnings on the outside of your house or office? If you do, please consider contacting the BC Community Bat Program to collect data on your model.
Bats are getting injured or even squished by roll up blinds and power awnings that provide shade to homes in the summer. The BC Community Bat Program is actively seeking assistance to assess how common this is and address it accordingly.
“Most people install exterior roll up blinds and power awnings on the south or west side of their house to help create shade and cool their house. The last thing they want to do is harm bats,” says Danielle Dagenais, BC Community Bat Program Regional Coordinator for Metro Vancouver and Sea to Sky Region. “However, over the last few years, we’ve been getting reports in southern B.C. of bats being attracted to the shutter housing or box into which the blinds or awnings roll into. Bats are accidentally and unintentionally getting squished or injured when the blinds are rolled up and then they fall out dead when the blinds get rolled down.”
According to Dagenais, if it is determined that such incidents are frequent, the program intends to engage with manufacturers. The goal is to explore potential design changes, ensuring that awnings and blinds no longer pose a threat to these important animals, turning them into unintentional hazards.
Nine of the 15 species that live in British Columbia are listed as at risk of disappearing.
“We only have insect eating bats in B.C. They control nocturnal insect populations and help cycle nutrients from wetlands to forests,” says Dagenais.
If you have seen bats roosting in your summer roll up blinds, shades, or awnings in the past years, please contact the BC Community Bat Program at https://bcbats.ca/got-bats/dontsquishbats/, email [email protected],or call 1-855-922-2287 ext. 11.
