Chewacla State Park celebrates the importance of bats and other Alabama-native animals with its new event, Bats and Boos, on Saturday, Oct. 7, from 6 p.m. to 8. p.m. The event aims to educate the public about the importance of bats and other small animals in Alabama with a Halloween theme.
Chewacla State Park guest educator and founder of A-Z Animals Vicky Beckham Smith will join Chewacla State Park’s Olivia Sciandra for the park’s first Bats and Boos event.
“The program will be an introduction to bats...How many we have in the state, throughout the world, the U.S. and what they do for us,” Smith said.
Attendees will have the opportunity to meet three species of bats and other small animals such as snakes, scorpions and tarantulas up close. Children will have the chance to participate in the show through interactive elements like demonstrations.
“It's Halloween, you've got to do the creepy critters,” Smith said.
Sciandra will lead the second part of the event, which involves an hour-long nature hike where participants will encounter various animals.
“Our goal is to make people more comfortable around wildlife, and comfort really comes with being educated, knowing how to identify wildlife,” Sciandra said.
Participants in the hike can expect to make multiple stops to look for things like constellations, bats and other animals along the way and to learn about the various sounds in the forest.
Bats are an important part of Alabama’s ecosystem, Smith emphasized, stating that the 15 bat species in Alabama eat insects, which helps with pest control.
“Our farmers and our foresters are really starting to look at this service, this eco-service, that they provide for them because the more bats you have eating bugs, the less money you have to spend on pesticides,” Smith said.
Smith is a former educator and has worked across the Southeast. She serves on the education committees of the Alabama Bat Working Group, The Southeastern Bat Diversity Network and The Association of Zoos and Aquariums.
“When people say I’m batty, it’s not an insult – it’s true,” Smith said.
While Smith herself is not a chiropterologist, or bat scientist, she travels two to three times a year to help chiropterologists catch live bats so scientists can study them. Smith stated that a disease known as White Nose Syndrome affected cave-dwelling bats across the U.S. and in Alabama and that bat population numbers have “fallen significantly.”
Smith is hopeful for the cave-dwelling bat populations across the U.S. as their numbers increase in areas first affected by White Nose Syndrome. Bats are either gaining immunity to White Nose Syndrome or are reproducing quickly enough to outpace those affected by the disease.
The bats Smith uses in her program come from rehabilitation facilities and are ineligible for release. The bats could be ineligible due to an injury or disability. Smith emphasized that she could not rescue or take in injured bats and encouraged people to contact a local wildlife rehabilitation center.
Tickets for Bats and Boos are available on Chewacla State Park’s website for $10 each. Children 3 and under get in free. Hot apple cider and hot chocolate will be available to participants as well.
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