You might look for information on how to get rid of bats yourself if you have an infestation, but the best choice is to have professional bat removal in York. If you attempt the removal yourself, you could put yourself at risk for injuries that expose you to disease. You could also inadvertently harm the bats, which could get you in trouble with the law.
Why Are There Laws Regulating Bat Removal?
Bats play an important role in the ecosystem by pollinating plants, spreading seeds, and fertilizing the soil with their feces. They also help farmers by feeding on insect pests that could damage crops. For these reasons, bats are sometimes considered a keystone species.
Nevertheless, bats face threats such as climate change, habitat loss, and disease. In the past 10 to 15 years, their populations have declined dr
amatically. There are at least eight bat species in North America that are now endangered, and others are considered threatened.
To reverse this trend, there are now national and international laws in place intended to protect bats by making it illegal to deliberately harm them or to take actions that could harm them indirectly. Skedaddle technicians know how to get rid of bats while complying with these laws, which sometimes means deferring removal until a time that is more favourable to the bats.
When Can You NOT Remove Bats From Your Home?
North American bats feed on either insects or fruit. In Canada during the winter, insects and fruit trees both go dormant, meaning there is no food available for the bats. Some Canadian bat species migrate south where food is still plentiful during the winter, but most hibernate to conserve energy until the weather warms. It is illegal to disturb bats while they are hibernating because if you were to remove them during this time, they would die from a lack of food.
Female bats give birth to their babies in the late spring and raise them throughout the summer. It takes several months for the babies to be able to fly on their own, until which time, they are entirely dependent on their mothers. Bat removal in York involves installing one-way seals over bat entry points so that they can fly in but can’t fly out. However, doing so before the babies can fly separates them from their mothers, leading to their eventual death.
When Is the Ideal Time To Have Bats Removed From Your Home?
August through September is the ideal time to have bats removed from your home because they have not yet entered hibernation and all the babies have officially become independent. Once the bat babies are born, which happens approximately mid-May, bat removal is no longer an option until fall. By that time, the babies that were born in spring have grown up enough that they can fly and find food on their own.
Once the bats go back into hibernation, you can have the exclusion done so that when the bats wake up, they will leave to find food before they have the chance to give birth and will not be able to get back in. However, you can’t disturb their hibernation. Doing so would be both inhumane and illegal.
The problem is that it is very difficult for laypeople to tell the difference between bat species that are protected and those that are not. It is also difficult to tell whether the bats have given birth and, if so, when the babies are old enough to fly. Our technicians receive training so that they can verify where the bats are in their reproduction cycle.
A bat infestation raises many questions, such as “When do bats return in the spring?” Contact Skedaddle for answers to your questions about bat removal in York.
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