• By SMILEY ANDERS
• Advocate columnist
• Published: Nov 18, 2009 - Page: 1B

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After I urged calm at the news that BATS ARE INVADING BATON ROUGE!, I heard from several vampires (pardon me, bat defenders).

Sharilynn Aucoin says, “If one has seen the bats come out of their cave at Carlsbad Caverns in a wondrous tornado formation, or observed the million-plus bats swarm out from under the Congress Street bridge in Austin, one must marvel at them instead of fearing them.”

(I viewed the bridge bats in Austin a while back. That and a visit to nearby Luckenbach were highlights of the trip).

“Bats eat millions of mosquitoes and other insects; plus, their guano is a rich fertilizer much prized in agriculture,” says Sharilynn.

Roger del Rio says, “We live not far from the Highland Road overpass (where bats were spotted).

“From time to time bats have taken up home in a stucco column on our home.

“We have the family over to watch them fly out at dusk. They have amazing ability to fly in the dark. We enjoy watching them.”

And Nancy Johnson says, “Every summer we watch bats fluttering over our backyard in Zachary, scooping up insects.

“The north Pennsylvania caves I explored as a member of the Penn State spelunking team, once home to millions of bats, are now off limits to everyone because bats are dying of a disease, white nose syndrome (mortality rate 90 percent).

“Many people don’t realize how beneficial bats are. A single bat can eat more than 3,000 insects a night, and a colony consumes hundreds of millions. Up north farmers rely on them as much as bees for pollination.”

Burning issue

Cade Ruiz reminds us that what many Southerners know as “bell peppers” are also called “green peppers.”

Says Cade: “When I was 15, I was cooking supper for my family, using a recipe from an old cookbook.