During my loft-living days about a decade ago, I had a VERY close encounter with a bat  that resulted in a full round of rabies shots for both me and my daughter to the tune of $10,000. So while you might think I’d have good reason to hate these creatures, in actuality, I’m quite concerned for them.

An emerging disease in the last few years known as White-Nose Syndrome is responsible for an over 70% decline in bat populations in the Northeast and it’s affected one species, the little brown bat, to such an extent that scientists expect it to disappear from the region completely in the next 20 years.

Why should you give a hoot about the only flying mammal on the planet?

Well, for one thing, their pest control services are estimated to be worth anywhere from $3.7 to $53 billion dollars a year! But with such huge losses in the bat population from White-Nose Syndrome, scientists estimate between 660 and 1320 metric tons of insects are no longer on bats’ dinner menus and may need to killed by pesticides instead. And this, of course, could have far-reaching implications for our eco-system.

So while we should all support bat conservation efforts, we should leave the actual work to the professionals and only come close to a bat ourselves when it’s a jeweled version like today’s VPOD.

This 1930s bat pin was designed by Alfred Philllipe for Trifari as part of the Ming series, which used molded jade as a focal point.

It’s a beautiful bat find for a vintage fashionista!

Available from Vintage Luxury.

(Facts via GardenNews.biz)

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