I thought I'd keep a record of what's happening with the bats in our church on one thread.

I recieved lots of material from the public health office which eased my mind. A pest control person also said that they may not be the problem I first anticipated. Now, if we can only keep 'em from flying in the sanctuary during our services!

I'm resigned to the fact that we can't do anything about a bat colony in the Chatham church until April.

We're preparing by stopping up as many "escape holes" as possible that lead into the sanctary.

This morning I found a bat on the floor near the church office. Later that day when my wife and I went to run off the bulletin, the bat had crawled up the side of a stair and was hanging there, upside down.

I went near a window, picked out a half-dead fly and fed it to the little brown creature. Well, I didn't exactly put it into the bat's mouth--I let the fly walk into danger's way.

This Sabbath I'm holding a contest to keep the children's attention. During my graphics presentation, I'm inserting a little picture of a bat. The children who spot it will get an activity book as a prize. I contemplated giving adults who spotted it 10 whole minutes of my undivided attention (re:"Where are all the shepherds?" on another forum).

By the way, someone will be there 9:00am every Sabbath morning to make sure we're "bat free" for our services.

More later as the situation continues!

By the way, April should be interesting, as the whole colony is supposed to come out of hibernation.

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Today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday.

Don't let yesterday's mistakes trouble you, nor tomorrow's fears spoil your day.

Pastor Andrew

It sounds like you are coming up with some good, workable solutions to the problem. Now, if you can only convince your church members that they have nothing to fear from the presence of the bats, you should be able to co-exist peacefully with the little creatures until they are ready to find a new home in the spring.

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The Lord is the strength of my life and my portion forever.

Today I spotted a bat crawling towards the church's back door.

My daughter said she saw one flying into the Youth room, beside the children's Sabbath School room.

I went to investigate. When I thought I didn't see anything, a bat almost flew into my face. It was resting on the metal ledge under a blackboard and then flew to the middle of the room.

I didn't have gloves on and the bats were too fast/creepy to catch. Tomorrow morning we'll try to "clear them out" before the folks arrive to church.

Pray for us!

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Today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday.

Don't let yesterday's mistakes trouble you, nor tomorrow's fears spoil your day.

Pastor Andrew

I couldn't wait until the next morning. At 8:00pm Friday night, I went with the church cleaning man and searched the place.

We threw one bat, kicking and screaming, out of the door. We placed it in some bushes, hopefully protecting it from the elements. We couldn't find the other one though...

There were bits of wood in the baptismal tank and on the pews--places under areas that the bats claws had been used for the creature to hang.

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Today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday.

Don't let yesterday's mistakes trouble you, nor tomorrow's fears spoil your day.

Pastor Andrew

I hope you realize that bats can crawl through some very small holes. Once, years ago, my daughter and I were sitting at the kitchen table when we heard a scratching sound coming from the ceiling fan just above us. I assumed there was a mouse in there, until a bat flew out into the room. We went to the door and opened it, and before too long, the bat found its way outside.

More recently, at the house where we now live, we knew a bat was in the house, and the last we knew it had flown to the basement. We didn't really mind it being there, but the next morning I found the poor thing in the kitchen, drowned in the sinkful of water I had not emptied, even though the basement door was securely shut. I have no idea how it could have returned to the main floor.

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The Lord is the strength of my life and my portion forever.

Cathy, I'm between a rock and a hard place. I threw the bat out into the cold air where there is no food. It was placed near bushes that would protect it from some of the winter "elements" but it probably has starved to death by now.

I did solve the mystery of the second bat, though. This is not for the squeemish, but they do these things in Canada, sometimes...

Here goes: A male nurse cut the head off my other bat friend so it wouldn't suffer from the cold and hunger. Oh these ethical problems!

Now, about those "small spaces." That's quite a problem. A bat expert said that to seal a place good enough for bats means almost sealing it as tightly as you would for spiders. He, in fact, did seal a building for an arachnophobe--it was quite expensive.

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Today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday.

Don't let yesterday's mistakes trouble you, nor tomorrow's fears spoil your day.

Pastor Andrew

You should do an article about this for the Adventist Review and/or the Canadian Adventist Messenger.

You can call it, "A Church Gone Batty."

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In His Love, Mercy & Grace

Daryl

Daryl, I'm actually recording the whole incident for a future publication.

The local health office and top bat experts say that churches (because of the way they're constructed) are the first choice for bat infestations.

It could cost thousands for a church to get rid of the creatures, so a little advice in an article could prove invaluable.

The next time I visit the church, I'm taking a camera.

By the way, the editor of Messenger Magazine is my parents' neighbor in Oshawa.

She's looking for a little more variety...

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Today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday.

Don't let yesterday's mistakes trouble you, nor tomorrow's fears spoil your day.

Pastor Andrew

Are you going to share your photos with us here?

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The Lord is the strength of my life and my portion forever.

Yes. I'll try to get a good one with the "Welcome Guests" sign in the background.

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Today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday.

Don't let yesterday's mistakes trouble you, nor tomorrow's fears spoil your day.

Pastor Andrew