Adopt a Bat 2020

HAT’s Adopt-a-Bat program provides the opportunity to become a Bat Bud! Get to know a local bat who also lives in your community. When you adopt a bat, you will receive:

• Information about the bat species that you adopted
• A sticker of the bat of your choice by the incredible artist Amanda Kadatz 
• An official certificate of adoption
• The knowledge that you are furthering the conservation of bats!

Cost per bat: $20

Cost per 3 bats: $50

SYMBOLIC - You will not receive a live bat

What kind of bat can you adopt?

• Towsend’s Big-Eared Bat
• Little Brown Myotis Bat 
• Hoary Bat

Adopting a bat contributes to:

• Distributing educational resources to correct the myths and misinformation that produce senseless violence against these wonderfully beneficial animals
• Providing professional guidance to homeowners and land managers to ensure bat evictions are conducted safely without harming the bats
• Building and supplying biologist-approved artificial bat roosting habitat (bat houses) to bat colonies that have been displaced after homeowners evicted their bats 
• Coordinating the collection of bat DNA samples, bat acoustic data, and bat count data with bat volunteers and bat stewards through the Annual BC Bat Count to further the research of bat populations in BC
• Tirelessly work toward the permanent protection of intact habitats that support local bats through land protection and collaboration with indigenous communities

From October 1 to December 25, HAT will be providing the opportunity to adopt a bat, and stay tuned to find out other fun ways to spread the word to your family and friends about the benefits of bats, including Bat Week October 24 to 31.

This is part of HAT’s commitment to the BC Community Bat Program. As the organization responsible for coordinating the Southern Vancouver Island chapter of the BC Community Bat Program, HAT aims to share information about the importance of bats and encourage residents to get to know these often misunderstood members of our ecological community.

If you’re looking to form a bat-focused band of friends then consider adopting an entire colony! Gather your friends and pitch in, fundraising together can support an entire family of bats in our local area.

Local businesses looking to support bats can adopt colonies as well. Pull together as staff members to sponsor a colony, or see if your business would be interested. Why not do both?

There are 9 bat species on Vancouver Island, and each of them face threats from habitat loss, predation by cats, and the looming threat of White Nose Syndrome. More importantly, they have gained an unwarranted bad reputation.

Ignorance about bats and the role they play in the ecosystem is more dangerous than the loss of habitat to logging, development, and residential sprawl. The more we collectively know about bats, and the less stereotype and fear drive our relationship with them, the quicker bats will be safe in our community.

The better informed we humans are about bats, their needs, their lives, and the safe ways we can coexist, the better off bats will be in this region.

Adopt a bat before Halloween and you can be a founding member of the Bat Buds community!