Bats forced out of church's belfry saved from frigid fate

It was a surprising sight for the congregation ofthe Holy Name of Mary Parish in Almonte, Ont.: dozens of bats attached to the outside wall of the old stone church on Bridge Street,hibernating.

They were very groggy. Some would pop off like ice cubes.- Mike Anissimoff, Canadian Wildlife Federation

The bats had lived in the church's tower for 30 years, but when renovations in August blocked off their usual entrance, they moved on.

However, when the cold weather arrived in mid-November, the colony returned to the church to hibernate.

"This was a colony that was roosting in the church," explainedMikeAnissimoff, a bat specialist with the Canadian Wildlife Federation. "Sothey started sleeping on the outside of the church."

Forty-six of the flying mammalshad stuck themselves to the church's wall. Worried about the bats' chances of surviving the winter there, the congregation called in Anissimoff.He arrived just in time.

"They were using a winter's worth of fat storage in two or three weeks," he said.

"They were very groggy. Some would pop off like ice cubes, but then others would kinda flip their wings out or they'd open their mouths."

Hibernating in'bat fridge'

After enlisting the help of the fire department, all of the bats were safely removed from the church wall and taken to be rehabilitated at the Rideau Valley Wildlife Sanctuary.

"Some were dehydrated or underweight. We have to teach them to eat non-flying insects," said Linda Laurus, the sanctuary's director.

Once they're back to a healthy weight, the animals willgo into the "bat fridge" to continue hibernating.

This is the largest cohortof bats the sanctuary has ever dealt with at any one time, and space in the fridgeis running out.

The rehabilitatedbats will be released in the spring, Laurussaid. But what will happen next winter?

Conservation officers said they hopethe congregationwill build bat boxes near the church, because the colony has been in the area for so long and will likely return to its longtime home.

"Bats are often viewed as pests, but they're not pests,"Anissimoffsaid.