Bats welcomed to Vancouver golf courses

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VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – It could mean a few less mosquito bites the next time you do 18 holes at a city of Vancouver golf course. The park board is installing bat houses at their three championship layouts – Fraserview, Langara, and McCleery. 

Davin Marr with the BC Golf Superintendents Association says a few private courses are doing the same thing, attracting bats to take up residence.

“Bats are fantastic because the bats come in and they look after the mosquito population, which needless to say, golfers don’t like getting bit by mosquitoes so having the bats there is very beneficial,” says Marr.

He adds the night dwellers are a good fit because they sleep during the day.

“It doesn’t take a lot to put a bat house in place, and bats are not really a problem on a golf course because we’re not out there after dark very often, so they don’t affect the golfers.”

Marr says the houses which will hold as many as 300 of the creatures don’t cost a lot but are still fairly rare in the industry around BC.  

“A region that has mosquitoes will probably look at that practice a lot more than someone say in the interior of British Columbia where it’s fairly dry, and if they don’t have any water on their golf course, (they’re) probably not going to look at that quite as much.”

Marr says the Vancouver park board is taking a big step in letting people know about the value of bat houses. He admits his course – Hillview Golf Club, in Vernon – does not have a bat house.

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