A disturbing, sad story from the BatWorld Wall of Shame. Please reprint, link, and otherwise spread.
During a record breaking CA heat wave during the summer of 2008, Bat World San Diego received a rescue call for six abandoned pups at La Estancia Condominium Complex in Oceanside, CA. The condos are managed by N.N. Jaeschke, Inc. and maintained by the La Estancia Maintenance Corporation. Apparently the roost had overheated, causing the tiniest pups to be pushed from the roof tiles as bigger bats struggled to stay cool. The woman who called lived in the apartment directly under the roost. She also informed us that her neighbor below was complaining of the smell and wanted the bats removed. While collecting the bats our rescuer noticed some of the pups had fallen onto this neighbor’s porch and had likely crawled under the door leading to an outside storage closet. However, the man refused to open the storage closet and never changed his mind. Two other volunteer bat rehabilitators helped us collect 29 bat pups. They fed and hydrated the lost pups, and successfully reunited the pups with their mothers the same day.
We contacted the condominium owner who made the initial complaint about the bats, as well as the N.N. Jaeschke, Inc. The condo owner said the bats had been using the roost for years, yet nothing had ever been done about the problem such as sealing the roost during the winter months when the bats were gone. We offered help in humanely excluding the bats after the pups were raised, which would have occurred just a few short weeks later. We also made contact with a local wildlife biologist as well as a group of Boy Scouts who wanted to assist with the problem by building and installing bat houses in nearby open spaces as an environmental project. We made the suggestion to N.N. Jaeschke that the problem could turn out to be a positive public relations story for their company as they could deal with the bat problem humanely while working with a local scout troop. Although we managed to speak to the condo owner by phone (who insisted the bats should be killed), our calls and e-mails to N.N. Jaeschke, Inc went completely ignored.
A week later we received another distress call from the resident of the condo, who told us that she believed N.N. Jaeschke, Inc had hired someone to get rid of the bats. A pest control company had netted the roof, trapping the mothers and pups inside. The caring resident climbed on her balcony and tore down the netting, freeing the bats, while Bat World San Diego contacted the San Diego Department of Animal Services and alerted them to the problem. That evening a local news station came to cover the story, filming the location, pieces of the netting that remained and interviewing everyone involved. The story made news in San Diego that evening: http://www.10news.com/video/16916347/index.html. A representative of N.N. Jaeschke responded to the news story by promising to leave the colony alone until maternity season was over, and said they would then humanely exclude the bats during the fall after all the pups could fly. Note: The condo resident later received a notice of violation from N.N. Jaeschke, Inc.
Once again we contacted N.N. Jaeschke with offers to help, and once again we were ignored. We also called the California Dept of Health Services after hearing that some of the condo residents were starting to panic after being given incorrect information regarding histoplasmosis, a lung condition that can occur from bird and, rarely, from bat droppings. We took initiative and distributed the correct information about bats to the residents, including information from the health department stating that there has never been a human case of histoplasmosis from bat guano acquired in California. We also called the CA Department of Fish and Game, who sent a game warden to the condominiums. The warden informed the condo owner that he could not immediately exclude the bats but needed to wait until September 1st.
Two weeks later we received a tearful call from the caring condo resident, who had just arrived home to find the condo roof dripping wet. She walked around her building to see what happened and encountered to two workers who both stated they were hired power wash the bats in order to kill them. Approximately 2,000 mothers and pups lost their lives that day. We later spoke by telephone to Lil Van Vleet, Senior Vice President of N.N. Jaeschke, who denied they ever hired a company to net and bait the bats in July, and also stated they did not hire someone to power wash bats to kill them. Ms. Van Vleet did state, however, that N.N. Jaeschke hired a company to power wash the grounds of the condominiums on the very the same day the bats ended up being killed with a power washer.
Investigators were sent to the roost to search for bodies that may have fallen so that the method of death could be determined in order for charges to be filed against the managers of the condo. Unfortunately, all the bodies are still trapped within the now-sealed roof, and the ground beneath had been cleaned. This cruelty case is still open, but as yet no charges have been filed.
Please let N.N. Jaeschke know that this level of cruelty does not go unnoticed.
Eleanor Hugus, CEO
N.N. Jaeschke
9610 Waples Street
San Diego, CA 92121-2992
Tel: (858) 550-7900
Fax: (858) 550-7929You may also use the NN Jaeschke website to send a comment.
Why did you not let these people help you get rid of the bats humanly. Why did you choose to kill them, and so inhumanly instead? I hope you end up paying for what you did to these mother and baby bats.
That is sad. The company management is sick.
This makes me so sad and so angry.
I did contact N.N. Jaeschke and recieved an e-mail reply from Pam Knowles. If you’d like I can forward her response on to you. It is a well thought out response hoping to clear up what they see as confusion. -Mel
That’d be great, Mel.
Should be in your mailbox.