Bat Man : Winged Creatures Being Evicted From Their Downtown Haven

L. J. (Holly) Hollingworth’s pest control company has tackled opossums, skunks, raccoons, coyotes and even rattlesnakes in rural hills and valleys throughout Southern California. But now he faces an unusual urban challenge--removing 1,500 bats from the cracks of an old, 11-story insurance building in downtown Los Angeles.

The 280 people who work in the Fremont Insurance Building in the 1700 block of West 8th Street hope he succeeds. Three or four Mexican freetail bats have been cruising the halls each day since the building’s bat population exploded for unknown reasons in March.

“You can’t outthink the little suckers because they don’t think,” said Hollingworth, who thinks it will take a month to free the building of bats. “Bats are only interested in three things--food, water and a place to sleep.”

Hollingworth has been taping plastic mesh over cracks and damaged window frames used by the bats to enter the building and find sleeping quarters in the spaces between the red-brick facade and concrete masonry. At the bottom of the mesh is a small hole.

“The animal comes out at dusk to feed on insects and encounters the net, but his sonar tells him there is a way out,” said Hollingworth, who sports gray, handlebar mustache and long sideburns. “When he comes home, he can’t get in.”

In this way, the chocolate-brown, mouse-sized insectivores, considered beneficial to the environment, are being forced to find new lodgings elsewhere. Once they leave, Hollingworth’s three-man crew will caulk up the cracks and the problem will presumably be solved.

Tenants of the building hope Hollingworth knows what he is doing.

“About six weeks ago,” said Howard Heller, senior vice president in charge of collections, “I was working late, and I saw one coming straight for me at eye level. I hit the deck. We just sat on the floor and watched them zip around.”

Wanda Perry, 30, an administrative supervisor on the 10th floor, recalled several “unfortunate” encounters.

“I just scream and run to the bathroom,” said Perry, whose fear has nothing to do with vampires. “I have a phobia of one landing on me and I drop dead.”

Janene Torres, 28, a secretary on the same floor, has other reasons for wanting the bats to move on.

“They fly fast and go around corners in the hall like they know exactly where they’re going,” Torres said. “We get down on the floor or under a desk to get out of their way. We’re afraid of them getting in our hair.”

Hollingworth pointed out that bats navigate through the air with a natural sonar system that all but precludes a collision with human beings.

“People hear the word bat and right away they start thinking of Bela Lugosi,” Hollingworth said.

It was a growing chorus of complaints about bats hanging from the ceiling and sailing through the corridors that prompted building manager Jim Rabb to seek help. Also, the odor of bat guano lingers in the lobbies of certain floors.

The Mexican freetail bat, Tadarida brasiliensis, gets its name from a quarter-inch-long tail that extends beyond the edge of its tail membrane. The bat has a wingspan of 8 to 10 inches, flies high and fast, eats moths and other insects and usually roosts in caves.

‘Creatures of Habit’

“Bats are creatures of habit and don’t deviate in their behavior,” said Gordon Fries, Hollingworth’s partner, who has been working in the pest control business for 31 years. “Once you know their biology, you have them down pat and can get control of them.”

Still, “it’s a helluva job,” Hollingworth said. “We’ve got to cover every window, and there’s over 574 windows on this building.”

Hollingworth said it was not all that unusual to find such a large colony in the big city.

“Back when Father Junipero Serra walked through here, bats lived in caves and hollowed-out trees,” Hollingworth said. “We cut the trees down, built over the caves and paved the land. But the animal still needs a harborage, and he’s learning to live with us.”

Not Easy

Finding a company willing and able to tackle the problem was not easy. Rabb said he was turned down by more than half a dozen companies and the Los Angeles County health department before he contacted Hydrex.

How much is Hollingworth’s Hydrex Pest Control Co. charging Fremont Compensation Insurance Company for this unusual job?

“Let’s put it this way,” Hollingworth said. “For a big enough bag of money, I’ll take all the sea gulls off Catalina Island.”