MexicanFreeTailedBat_AlliesinAustin_Tuttle_Merlin_AustinTX_23February2008_Reel2401.mp3

Merlin Tuttle [00:00:00] By 1986, Bat Conservation International had taken off and grown to the extent that it was obvious to me that I could not continue to be a full-time curator of mammals at the Milwaukee Museum and do what I wanted to do for bat conservation.

Merlin Tuttle [00:00:16] At that time, huge numbers of bats were moving into the remodeled Congress Avenue Bridge in Austin, and they were making national and international news, as one headline literally said that hundreds of thousands of rabid bats were invading and attacking the citizens of Austin. And even the Austin American-Statesman was writing stories like, "Bat Colonies Sink Teeth in the City".

Merlin Tuttle [00:00:46] And I decided that any city that had that many bats and that many news media with nothing better to do than talk about them would be an ideal location to center a bat conservation education effort. And so partly for that reason, and partly because I wanted to be associated with a major academic institution where I had access to good libraries and fellow scientists. I moved Bat Conservation International to Austin.

Merlin Tuttle [00:01:17] At the time we arrived, health authorities had warned citizens of Austin that these bats were rabid and would attack and were a serious public health threat. And understandably, people were frightened and were signing petitions to have the bats eradicated.

Merlin Tuttle [00:01:36] I began educating leading citizens in Austin, and leading media commentators and writers, and pointed out that these bats were very unlikely to ever attack or harm anybody, that if we simply left them alone, there were many advantages to living in harmony with them.

Merlin Tuttle [00:02:03] And it didn't take as long as most people think to, once we'd convinced leading citizens and leading media people, that word spread to the populace and quickly people began to get over their fears and to appreciate the values of bats.

Merlin Tuttle [00:02:25] We have now the perfect demonstration of bats being able to live very harmoniously and safely with people. For 25 years, we've had a million and a half Mexican free-tailed bats living under the Congress Avenue Bridge in downtown Austin. And after all those dire predictions of the bats were rabid and going to harm anybody, we're still, 25 years later, waiting for the first person to be attacked or harmed by a bat.

Merlin Tuttle [00:02:55] And yet, in that same period, the bats have attracted literally millions of tourists. Those tourists spend approximately $10 million a summer in downtown Austin, and the bats eat 30,000 pounds of insects every night.

Merlin Tuttle [00:03:13] So, where is the harm and where has the benefit? It seems to be that the net is on the side of welcoming the bats as wonderful allies in Austin.