Bats found in Clear Lake 9th Grade Center

Mexican Free-Tailed Bats can squeeze into tiny crevices. Photo by Nick de la Torre.

A gym in the Clear Lake Ninth Grade Center was closed Thursday while crews made preparations to chase off bats living in the rafters.
Elaina Polsen, a spokeswoman for the Clear Creek Independent School District, said the school is situated near Armand Bayou, so encounters with animals occur from time to time and the bats were squeezing in through a narrow gap between the trim and the building itself.
Since bats don't normally make appearances during during daytime school hours, it wasn't until Wednesday night that boys practicing with the Clear Lake Boys Basketball league first noticed about 30 Mexican free-tailed bats overhead.
The school district dispatched an employee who's a "certified bat catcher," and workers used expanding foam to seal up all but one of the gaps, leaving a single 3-foot-long escape hatch for the bats.
The plan for Thursday night was to use a thermosteamer that fills the gym with fog. Polsen said no chemicals were involved so neither bats nor students would be harmed, but the bats would be forced to fly away through the one remaining gap. The last escape route was to be immediately sealed so the bats can't return.
It's against the law to kill bats, she said.
MORE ABOUT BATS:
Bats and public health - Bat Conservation International
Bats and rabies - Texas Department of Health