Why should you help your community become bat-friendly? For one, bats love eating insects, which cuts down the mosquito population – something everyone in Saskatchewan can appreciate! Bats reduce common garden pests by consuming moths and beetles, the adult forms of the insects that consume plants.
Make your community a haven for bats by:
- Leaving dead trees where it is safe to do so;
- Planting a native garden;
- Providing safe access to water; and
- Allowing unoccupied, structurally safe, older buildings to stand in place.
Farmers can engage in bat-friendly farming practices by:
- Maintaining bat foraging habitat, such as wetlands, shelterbelts, hedgerows and trees;
- Providing roosting habitat by putting up bat houses, and/or allowing bats to use barns and other appropriate buildings;
- Reducing potential hazards for bats; prevent access to things that might trap bats, such as smooth sided, deep features (e.g. uncovered rain barrels or sticky tape); and
- Reducing or better targeting pesticide use and strive to exceed recommended buffer zones when possible.