Hi everyone! I hope you all had a good week!  

I have some very good news for this week’s blog! Back in October of 2018, The Tropical Audubon Society and the North American Butterfly Association’s Miami Blue Chapter filed for protection of the Florida Bonneted Bat. Three days ago, on February 12, the US Fish and Wildlife Service agreed to protect the environment of the Bonneted Bats! Their habitat is being destroyed by urbanization and the sea-level rising. The agreement states that agencies that want to use the land in the bats’ habitat now need to contact the US Fish and Wildlife Service to get approval to use the land. By protecting the land, people can help the bats replenish their lost population, and help the species make a come-back. The land will also help other local species begin to thrive like they once did. In South Florida there are 26 known colonies of the Florida Bonneted Bat with 11 different roost sites. Of these roost sites, four of them will be flooded by rising sea-levels. And by the end of this century, the sea-level is predicted to rise 6 feet causing 9 roosts to flood.

If you want to read more about this you can check out this article.