Bats in the belfry

Do you have bats in the belfry? I mean that literally although, despite their love for hanging out in old church buildings, most bats find belfries too noisy and draughty.

Bats are some of those creatures which provoke strong emotions and illustrate the tensions that can arise between caring for God’s people and caring for the rest of God’s creation.

A bad press

Unlike, say, cuddly pandas, bats generally get a bad press. For starters, they are unclean animals in the Levitical food laws (Lev. 11:19). Their love of caves, ruins and old buildings, and their nocturnal habits, has given them a spooky reputation in folklore. Then there are vampires, although of course bats do have their own superhero.

More seriously, they are known to be a reservoir of diseases, including coronavirus, which can jump from animals to humans. It’s likely that the connection of bats in China to Covid-19 is indirect and more to do with keeping wild animals in unsanitary markets. The only disease associated with bats in the UK is rabies and there has only ever been one human case linked to a bat.

The most obvious downside to bats, if you happen to share space with them in a church building, is that their droppings can be a health hazard and their urine will deface fixtures and fittings. Church cleaning rota, anyone?

An amazing creature

Looking at it from another point of view, bats are small furry mammals with an amazing ability to navigate in the dark and which provide a valuable insect-control service. There is incredible variety within this one group of animals: 1,400 species worldwide of which 17 breed in the UK, making up more than a quarter of our resident mammals. They’ve suffered serious decline over the last century and are therefore all protected in law.

If you’re planning building work and you think you might disturb bats, you need to get good advice. Last year, a housing developer was given a record fine of £600,000 for demolishing a building which was home to a type of bat called ‘soprano pipistrelle’. It was a particularly egregious case of knowing there was a protected species, failing to get the right permits and going ahead with the works anyway.

Wildlife or worship?

I don’t know of any churches that have been prosecuted, but conflicts like this do raise questions. Is it more important to meet the needs of people or animals, especially if the animal is endangered? Why should the law seem to prioritise wildlife over worship? What if you have a rodent infestation?

My response to the first two questions is, why do you have to choose? Sadly, experience shows that where endangered species are not protected, or where laws aren’t enforced, wildlife usually loses out to people. Another building demolished, another bat roost destroyed, is another cut in the fabric of creation.

More positively, protecting vulnerable wildlife forces people to come up with innovative solutions to conservation conflicts, ideally so both people and wildlife benefit. Many historic churches are part of the Bats in Churches project (batsinchurches.org.uk), working with bat experts to find ways that bats and churches can co-exist.

As for a rodent infestation, I wouldn’t have to think too long before calling in the rat-catcher. Rats (and some mice) are not endangered and there are clear health and safety implications. I don’t believe the Biblical mandate to care for all creation is an absolute prohibition on harming any living thing, but all the same reaching for the rodenticide should be a last resort. Meanwhile, we can learn to love our bats.