An Evening with the Bats of Wisconsin

Next week Thursday, Stonefield in Cassville, Wisconsin will be hosting a bat conservation night, and visitors probably won’t be turned into vampires.

Stonefield is the one-time estate of Dewy Nelson, Wisconsin’s first governor. He, obviously, went to the Big Statehouse in the Sky long ago. Now the property serves as a historical education site and is also home to a couple of thousand bats who inhabit structures there.

Conservation Biologist Heather Kaarakka from the Bureau of Natural Heritage Conservation will lead the presentation, covering bat biology, the bats of Wisconsin, and how bats are being studied and protected here. Once the presentation concludes, volunteers can stay and count bats together to get a better handle on the local population. This does sound like a chaotic group activity, but perhaps they have a system.

The promotional materials do not mention anything about the risk of becoming a vampire, so chances are you’re safe as that seems like a big liability issue. But, as you know, if you’ve watched any amount of Scooby-Doo, the presence of bats is often a harbinger to some spooky business. If anything, you may be confronted by a crooked real estate developer dressed as a werewolf who is trying to scare people off the land, but you won’t become an undead creature of the night.

The event begins at 7:30 p.m. Organizers suggest you dress for the weather, wear comfortable shoes and bring a lawn chair if you’re keen on sitting. The Drink Wisconsinbly Week in Review adds that you should also consider wearing a necklace made of garlic and keep a wooden stake within arm’s reach at all times. Just to be safe.