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Welcome to Fairfax Underground, a project site designed to improve communication among residents of Fairfax County, VA. Feel free to post anything Northern Virginia residents would find interesting.
Welcome to Fairfax Underground, a project site designed to improve communication among residents of Fairfax County, VA. Feel free to post anything Northern Virginia residents would find interesting.
Annandale woman specializes in rehabilitating region’s bat population for past 11 years
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Date: March 27, 2012 06:28AM
Annandale woman relishes being a bit batty
Sturges has specialized in rehabilitating region’s bat population for past 11 years
by Kali Schumitz, FAirfax county Times
http://www.fairfaxtimes.com/article/20120322/NEWS/703229735/-1/annandale-woman-relishes-being-a-bit-batty&template=fairfaxTimes
If a bat gets into trouble in or around Northern Virgina, it likely will end up in Leslie Sturges’ care.
Sturges has been rescuing and rehabilitating orphaned, injured and sick bats in her Annandale home for 11 years. She is one of three wildlife rehabilitators in the state who specializes in bats.
“Hands down, in this area, she is the top in the field,” said Sherry Keen of Fairfax Station, who volunteered as Sturges’ apprentice and now is licensed to rehab bats in her own home.
Sturges also runs a nonprofit, the Save Lucy Campaign, to educate people about bats and the disease that is threatening to wipe out some North American bat species, known as white-nose syndrome.
Sturges, who works as a park naturalist for the Montgomery County Department of Parks in Maryland, said it is hard to pinpoint when her fascination with bats began. She always was interested in the “unloveable” fauna, such as insects and snakes, and somewhere along the way she began soaking up all the information she could find about bats.
“It was eye-opening to see the diverstity of the species,” she said.
She ultimately ended up attending a “boot camp” at the Bat World Sanctuary in Texas to learn about rehabilitiation. She now runs one of Bat World’s partner rescue groups, Bat World NOVA.
An average of 50 or 60 bats per year spend some time in Sturges’ rescue, which consists of some cages in her basement and an enclosed flying area in her backyard, for bats that are ready to test their wings. Several other volunteers help her care for the bats.
She can get calls at all hours of the day from people looking for her help with a bat.
“We’re not available 24/7, but we do the best we can,” she said.
Many of the bats that come her way are orphaned babies that need to be fed every few hours with a formula that mimics bat milk. Orphans are generally able to be released, once they are mature enough.
“The best part of rehab is release,” Keen said. “The more we release, the more that they’re hopefully going to go out there and have offspring.”
Adult bats, on the other hand, “come in more broken,” Sturges said. The culprits can include car strikes, cats, high wind nights or being trapped indoors.
Bats that can’t be rehabilitated enough to be released back into the wild — generally because they can’t fly and therefore can’t feed themselves — end up in Sturges’ education collection and help her with the Save Lucy Campaign programs.
White-nose syndrome, the main focus of the Save Lucy Campaign, is beginning to affect the local migratory bat species that overwinter in caves, particularly the little brown bat. Sturges said she hasn’t had a little brown come through her door for four years, which is concerning to her.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimates more than 5.5 million bats have died from white-nose syndrome since 2006.
Habitat loss also is contributing to the decline in bat populations, she said.
Most people generally are unaware of the threats to bats and also don’t understand how important they are to human agriculture, Sturges said. Bats help pollinate plants and also eat millions of bugs, reducing the number of insects feeding on plant materials.
Many people also are unnecssarily afraid of bats, Sturges said, noting the largest bat native to this region weighs an ounce and could fit in the palm of your hand.
“Bats do not attack humans,” Sturges said, adding she always is mystified when people feel they need to attack a bat with a broom or tennis racket to capture it.
A very small percentage, 0.5 percent, of bats contract rabies and those that do will quickly die, because of their small size, she said.
“Education is key,” Keen said, adding she knew little about bats herself before she started volunteering with Sturges. “I was really surprised at how stinkin’ cute they are.”
Shamus Ian Fatzinger/Fairfax County Times Leslie Sturges, president of The Save Lucy Campaign, holds "Mooch," a big bown bat, inside the Visitor Center at Huntley Meadows Park after giving a presentation to raise awareness of white-nose syndrome and its devastating impact on North American bats.
Attachments:
Sturges has specialized in rehabilitating region’s bat population for past 11 years
by Kali Schumitz, FAirfax county Times
http://www.fairfaxtimes.com/article/20120322/NEWS/703229735/-1/annandale-woman-relishes-being-a-bit-batty&template=fairfaxTimes
If a bat gets into trouble in or around Northern Virgina, it likely will end up in Leslie Sturges’ care.
Sturges has been rescuing and rehabilitating orphaned, injured and sick bats in her Annandale home for 11 years. She is one of three wildlife rehabilitators in the state who specializes in bats.
“Hands down, in this area, she is the top in the field,” said Sherry Keen of Fairfax Station, who volunteered as Sturges’ apprentice and now is licensed to rehab bats in her own home.
Sturges also runs a nonprofit, the Save Lucy Campaign, to educate people about bats and the disease that is threatening to wipe out some North American bat species, known as white-nose syndrome.
Sturges, who works as a park naturalist for the Montgomery County Department of Parks in Maryland, said it is hard to pinpoint when her fascination with bats began. She always was interested in the “unloveable” fauna, such as insects and snakes, and somewhere along the way she began soaking up all the information she could find about bats.
“It was eye-opening to see the diverstity of the species,” she said.
She ultimately ended up attending a “boot camp” at the Bat World Sanctuary in Texas to learn about rehabilitiation. She now runs one of Bat World’s partner rescue groups, Bat World NOVA.
An average of 50 or 60 bats per year spend some time in Sturges’ rescue, which consists of some cages in her basement and an enclosed flying area in her backyard, for bats that are ready to test their wings. Several other volunteers help her care for the bats.
She can get calls at all hours of the day from people looking for her help with a bat.
“We’re not available 24/7, but we do the best we can,” she said.
Many of the bats that come her way are orphaned babies that need to be fed every few hours with a formula that mimics bat milk. Orphans are generally able to be released, once they are mature enough.
“The best part of rehab is release,” Keen said. “The more we release, the more that they’re hopefully going to go out there and have offspring.”
Adult bats, on the other hand, “come in more broken,” Sturges said. The culprits can include car strikes, cats, high wind nights or being trapped indoors.
Bats that can’t be rehabilitated enough to be released back into the wild — generally because they can’t fly and therefore can’t feed themselves — end up in Sturges’ education collection and help her with the Save Lucy Campaign programs.
White-nose syndrome, the main focus of the Save Lucy Campaign, is beginning to affect the local migratory bat species that overwinter in caves, particularly the little brown bat. Sturges said she hasn’t had a little brown come through her door for four years, which is concerning to her.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimates more than 5.5 million bats have died from white-nose syndrome since 2006.
Habitat loss also is contributing to the decline in bat populations, she said.
Most people generally are unaware of the threats to bats and also don’t understand how important they are to human agriculture, Sturges said. Bats help pollinate plants and also eat millions of bugs, reducing the number of insects feeding on plant materials.
Many people also are unnecssarily afraid of bats, Sturges said, noting the largest bat native to this region weighs an ounce and could fit in the palm of your hand.
“Bats do not attack humans,” Sturges said, adding she always is mystified when people feel they need to attack a bat with a broom or tennis racket to capture it.
A very small percentage, 0.5 percent, of bats contract rabies and those that do will quickly die, because of their small size, she said.
“Education is key,” Keen said, adding she knew little about bats herself before she started volunteering with Sturges. “I was really surprised at how stinkin’ cute they are.”
Shamus Ian Fatzinger/Fairfax County Times Leslie Sturges, president of The Save Lucy Campaign, holds "Mooch," a big bown bat, inside the Visitor Center at Huntley Meadows Park after giving a presentation to raise awareness of white-nose syndrome and its devastating impact on North American bats.
Attachments: