From left, Megan Freeman and Mika Santiago, who gave bats a new home.
BLOOMFIELD, NJ — Clark’s Pond has been recognized as a certified bat habitat by the National Wildlife Federation, thanks to the efforts of two Bloomfield High School freshman active in Girl Scout Troop No. 20284. Mika Santiago and in association with the Friends of Clark’s Pond, had purchased and attached, on a 20-foot pole, a bat house at the south end of the pond, near Bessida Street. It was put into place this past April.
The project was given a Silver Award by the local Girl Scouts administration, Girl Scouts Heart, located in Montclair. The administration had previously rejected the girls’ first two project proposals: collecting medical containers for oversea distribution, or erecting a “Little Library” outside Demarest Elementary School. A “Little Library” is a free-standing, enclosed bookshelf where books can be freely taken or left. But happily, and to the benefit of township bats, the shelter was approved.
Mika and Megan began as Brownies when they were first- and second-graders, respectively, at Demarest. In fact, it was Mika’s mother, Melissa, who started Troop No. 20284. The girls had previously received a bronze Scout award for their work with the Pound Animal Welfare Society, or PAWS, of Montclair. Because all Scout award activities require community education, Mika and Megan promoted dog and cat adoptions, spaying and neutering, while also making beds for cats and toys for dogs.
For their bat project, they had a table at the recent Bloomfield Harvest Festival with information on the dying of little brown bats because of a fungal disease called white nose syndrome.
Millions of bats across the U.S. have died from this ailment.
The Friends of Clark’s Pond helped fund the bat house. According to Megan, her father and brothers dug the hole for the pole. Hopefully, bats will populate Mika’s and Megan’s gift to them.
Now for a bat fact: While of number of mammals are capable of gliding, bats are the only mammals that fly by flapping its wings.
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