(5/26/25) BATON ROUGE, La. — When Aaron Ashbrook was an undergraduate in college, he spent a summer working on Mackinac Island, Michigan. On the second-to-last day of his visit, he hung up some clothes to dry and later found that a bat made its way into his room and was residing in his clothes. After finding it, Ashbrook tried his best to get it out of his room and left it in a dumpster near the cabin.

When he talked with his aunt, who worked on the island, she told him to reach out to the local health department to get tested for rabies. After arriving home, Ashbrook received a call telling him to go to the emergency room to receive the rabies vaccine series — or he would be arrested and brought there regardless. Even though Ashbrook never got bitten, it is still possible for rabies to be transferred through saliva.

Because of this experience, Ashbrook, now an assistant professor in the LSU AgCenter Department of Entomology, was excited to organize and facilitate a “Bats in Our Ecosystem” day on May 24. The event, which was organized in tandem with a similar presentation on local pollinators, was designed to be informal but educational, helping visitors learn about all the bat species in Louisiana, how to best support them and exclusion practices for structures.

“Even though we typically think of pest management professionals working with insects only, they encounter all kinds of wildlife as well, including bats,” Ashbrook said. “There is a need for training events to have a vertebrate component for individuals in order to recertify.”

Along with Ashbrook, the program was organized with Christine Gambino, an extension associate with the entomology department. The event was created for pest management workers, homeowners and animal lovers who want to learn the best ways to support bats, how they benefit our environment and protect human health.

“I'm an entomologist and very interested in bats in the ecosystem. I personally don't even know that much about them, and we don't have many accessible people in Louisiana that the public can learn from,” Gambino said. “I figured Aaron and I should talk about bats, mosquitoes and how they help do mosquito control, in particular the little brown bat. I'm just passionate about educating the public and knew this would be a great event to do that.”

Initially the presentations were supposed to take place at LaHouse, but because of the large amount of interest and turnout, the event was moved to the Howe-Russell Kniffen Geosciences Building on LSU’s campus.

The event featured two parts, the first being on the different species of bats and the importance they offer Louisiana. This section informed attendees about local bat species and how to identify them, as well as their eating and sleeping habits. This part was taught by Teague O’Mara, an assistant professor at Southeastern Louisiana University.

For Ashbrook, this information is important because many people don’t realize the legal protection that bats possess in Louisiana.

“We don't really manage bats. Bat management is actually bat exclusion. So, at the federal level a lot of bat species are protected,” Ashbrook said. “Now, within Louisiana, all bat species are protected, so you can't kill a bat in Louisiana. Because of that, we need to train individuals how to recognize those signs where bats are and then how to exclude them once they're in a structure.”

The second part taught attendees how to make bat houses, or structures that are used to discourage bats from roosting in unwanted places, like within a business or house. This portion was taught by Mike Meyers, a Boy Scout Master in Metairie.

The bat houses must be attached to the structure that could be inhabited by bats and need to be specific dimensions to allow bats to find the space comfortable and appealing to live in. Meyers even recommends a specific color, nutmeg, to paint the houses. It is important to note that bat houses may remain unoccupied for some time before a colony can establish.

For more information on bat management or other pollinators, reach out to Ashbrook at AAshbrook@agcenter.lsu.edu.

Aaron Ashbrook hanging up a bat house on the outside of a household. Photo by Anthony Bailey/LSU AgCenter

Aaron Ashbrook and Christine Gambino organized and coordinated the educational bat event, which garnered so much attention it was moved to a larger location. Photo by Anthony Bailey/LSU AgCenter