Bat Conservation International http://www.batcon.org is very different than Bat World Sanctuary. Some people who aren't familiar with bats get them confused because Bat World copies and mimics everything that Bat Conservation International does. They do this to skim donations, members, attention, traffic and to help their image. While these two organizations could not be more different I will explain the differences here.
Bat Conservation International was started in 1982 in Austin, Texas by Dr. Merlin Tuttle. They have a staff of 30 biologists who have PhDs in over 60 countries. They bring in about $4.7 million in donations per year. Here is their Guidestar http://www.guidestar.org/organizations/74-2553144/bat-conservation-international.aspx They have a five star rating and are a gold member. The largest bat colony in the world in Bracken Cave is located on their property. They give tours and are permitted to show bats to the public. They have $4.2M in assets. They started "BATS" magazine in 1983. http://batcon.org/resources/media-education/bats-magazine
Bat World Sanctuary was started in 1994 in Mineral Wells, Texas by Amanda Lollar who has not gone past the eighth grade. Amanda is the only person on payroll even though she states the organization is all volunteer. They bring in $350K, have no star rating and have no member status. http://www.guidestar.org/organizations/75-2503642/bat-world-sanctuary.aspx They spend most of their money on attorney fees. They do not have a bat colony on their property. They are prohibited from giving tours or showing bats because they have had repeat violations of the law and regulations. They have maybe $75K in assets. They started "BAT WORLD" magazine in 2009. It is an exact copy of BCI's magazine in every single way, i.e. size, paper, font, articles, format... http://batworld.org/online-magazine/
It's very clear that Amanda Lollar of Bat World is extremely jealous of BCI. Lollar actually told me June 2010 that she does all the work and BCI gets all the donations and credit when they don't save any bats at all. Lollar was very upset by this and said it's very unfair. Lollar then told me she hoped to get bats with white nose syndrome so she could tell the world and get donations. For over a year Lollar took repeat hole punches out of bats' wings to send to the lab for testing. Lollar is so uneducated that she did not realize that bats that migrate don't get WNS. 99.99% of the bats at Bat World are migratory Brazilian/Mexican free-tail bats. Bat World attacks almost all other bat organizations in the world. She also attacks Universities, bat researchers and other bat rescuers.
BCI is a good organization who has done so much to help bats. Bat World is small petty organization that harms more bats than they help. If you're thinking of donating money to a bat organization this Halloween, donate to BCI. Your money will truly help bats.
Mary Cummins of Animal Advocates is a wildlife rehabilitator licensed by the California Department of Fish and Game and the USDA. Mary Cummins is also a licensed real estate appraiser in Los Angeles, California.
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