Bats take over house set to be renovated

Family decides to move back into uninhabited Ashkelon home, renovators find more than 100 bats living in the building.

Israel bat colonies (photo credit: EZRA HADAD)
Israel bat colonies
(photo credit: EZRA HADAD)
When a family decided to move back into a previously abandoned home, renovators preparing the building for habitation were met by a disconcerting surprise.

Upon entering the premises, laborers found that a colony of over one hundred bats was living in one of the rooms.Upon making the discovery, the Nature and Parks Authority was immediately called and the winged night creatures were taken to the WPA's Safari animal hospital. From there, the bats were successfully released back into the wild in the Beit Guvrin National Park's caves.The bats belong to the European free-tailed species. The bats live on a diet of insects and are common in Israeli cities and in abandoned buildings throughout the country.