If it can go wrong, it will: Ah, bats
| August 18, 2009 | 3:57 PM
More journal entries from John Moore »
Things are a little batty right now at the University of Florida.
OK, a lot batty.
Nearly 200,000 bats are on the loose after the university’s bat house collapsed. Apparently the plywood structure on the Gainesville, Fla., campus became too popular as a hangout spot for the winged mammals. Officials think their combined weight brought their abode crashing down.
Some bats are hanging on, continuing to stay in the debris. Many are expected to take up residence in crevices in the roofs of campus buildings. Unfortunately 100 of the animals, of the Brazilian free-tailed variety, died in the collapse.
The university is warning students not to go near any bats they seeing lying on the ground, as they might have rabies. But experts say the rest of the creatures will help keep the campus insect population in check, as the bat house population consumed nearly a ton of live insects each night.
Sigma fly!
Read more at gainesville.com.
More stories from the “If It Can Go Wrong, It Will” department:
- In Colorado, a bear attacked a motorcycle that was being used to store leftover pizza. Read more at Denver’s 7.
- In California, alien snails that were introduced to the Point Reyes National Seashore are killing off the rare oysters. Read more at sfgate.com.
- Also in California, a teacher who brought plastic replica guns to his class for a Revolutionary War lesson prompted a lockdown at two San Diego schools. Read more at foxnews.com
- In Virginia, a borrowed firetruck went up in flames. Read more at insidenova.com.
- In Canada, protesters’ plans to “Moon the Balloon” have burst. Too few of them turned out to drop their trousers in protest of a U.S. surveillance balloon being tested along the U.S.-Canadian border — and then the balloon didn’t even show up. Read more at upi.com
- Speaking of Canada, a Dutch father and son hoping for a vacation in Sydney, Australia, got off their plane in the wrong Sydney — the one in Nova Scotia. Read more at reuters.com.
- In Austria, a rash of children hiding in mailboxes has rescue workers licked. Read more at cbsnews.com.
- In Italy, a hotel near Venice accidentally offered a 1-cent weekend. Read more at cbsnews.com.
alien snails, bat house, bear attacks motorcycle, colorado, firetruck burns, moon the balloon, pizza, rare oysters, university of florida, wrong Sydney
