An assurance colony of disabled, neutered Mexican free-tail bats?

An assurance colony would be a group of endangered or threatened healthy animals living in a natural environment eating natural food. It would not be a bunch of common neutered one winged bats which must be hand fed meal worms daily in a converted furniture store. Most conservators of assurance colonies provide no prophylaxis treatment. They want the offspring to have the physical and genetic tools necessary to survive potentially pathogenic organisms, predators and the environment.

Lollar just has a neutered gimp zoo, not an assurance colony. I personally would liken it more towards a hoarding collection. Last year when we were getting overloaded with baby bats she kept going back to the wild sanctuary to pick up more. Before she had the other building she used to roam the streets of Mineral Wells looking for bats. Hope she doesn't waste time wondering why the people of Mineral Wells think she's crazy. She also used to keep her bats in a tiny wood cabinet that looked like an armoir.

Assurance colonies are generally set up for endangered species of animals. Mexican free tail bats are not endangered or threatened. They are not affected by white nose syndrome. Mexican free tail bats do not hibernate in cold caves where WNS is found. They migrate to warmer areas. They will not get WNS.

And on that note I just realized that when Lollar was telling people to euthanize bats by freezing them, that was even more inhumane to the Mexican free tails who do not hibernate. They didn't go into torpor. They just got cold and stopped moving then she tossed them in the freezer to die, very cruel.

Another thing which I recently realized is that Lollar was taking hole punches out of bats' wings for no reason. While I was there she was incredibly obsessed with finding WNS on one of her bats. If there was the slightest mark on a bat, she'd take a hole punch and send it to the lab, no pain relief of course. She was taking hole punches from Mexican free-tail bats which won't get WNS because they are not in the cold caves with the spores.

Every time the test came back negative she would be so upset. She told me she really wanted one of her bats to get WNS. She told me she alone had the cure. The cure is supportive care. Everyone knows that. A woman in NJ has already done this in hopes that the bats she "cured" will develop immunity to WNS.

Lollar told me if she could just get one bat with WNS she could send out a press release to the media. The story would get out then donations would come flooding. It boils down to the fact that she wanted her bats to get WNS so she could make some money. I'm amazed she hasn't driven to a cave with infected bats and brought some home. She may try that this winter.

I just found this in her 2010 newsletter. She stated she will not release the orphaned releasable bats that came in during 2010. She's keeping them as an "assurance colony." "In the meantime, Bat World Sanctuary headquarters has decided to keep rescued orphans from this past summer rather than release them into a potentially deadly environment. If a solution for WNS is not found, these bats will serve as assurance colonies for their species regardless of any decision FWS eventually makes. Donations toward food and/or medical supplies to maintain these bats would be greatly appreciated. Contributions can be made by mail or through our website at batworld.org."

That is totally against her permit. She can only keep unreleasable bats with approval. She can't keep healthy bats. Plus, these bats aren't "in the path of WNS." They don't hibernate, they migrate. They won't get WNS. And, she's asking for money to maintain the bats. Did she release last year's babies or not? If she didn't, she'd be totally overloaded.