Bats shut down Wilson Community Center

Wednesday, December 27, 2006

By Lucille Rice

Teton County Public Health closed down the Pumpkin Patch Preschool at 2 p.m. Thursday after building inspectors discovered animal excrement in the attic of the Wilson Community Center, where the preschool is housed. Initial concerns that the excrement could include rodent scat ? and could then pose the risk of deadly hantavirus ? were allayed when a second inspection on Friday confirmed the primary contaminant was bat droppings or guano.

Annie Band - a wildlife biologist, local bat expert and mother of a child who attends Pumpkin Patch Preschool - assured the health risks of guano are minimal, if not negligible. While guano can carry histoplasmosis, a fungal disease that is rarely fatal and endemic only to tropical climates, the small amount of guano in the attic and Jackson Hole's cold climate minimize the risks, she said.

Environmental Health Specialists inspected the Old Wilson School Building after being called on by the County Building Department, which discovered the excrement during an inspection required for renovations the community center has been planning for some time. The building was closed under the authority of District Health Officer Dr. James Little to protect the health of the preschool children until the problem is further investigated and remedied.

"Our concern is that the children's lungs would be more susceptible than adults'," said Teri Gregory, manager of Teton County Public Health. "That is one of the reasons that we wanted to get the children out, allow us to do the inspection and allow for the necessary clean up." Until the attic is thoroughly cleaned - at an unestimated but likely high price - and the health department gives the OK, the building will remain closed. In addition to starting Pumpkin Patch Preschool's holiday break a day earlier, the closure will put on hold many other events that take place in the building, including the Wilson Community Fellowship, choir groups, piano lessons, a community speaker series, birthday parties, and wedding and memorial services.

"This is devastating news," said Len Carlman, president of the Wilson Community Center Board of Directors, which took control of the old Wilson School in 2000 to turn it into a central gathering place for the community of Wilson. "We are reeling."

The center lacks funding and is worried that this incident will take a significant amount of time and money to remedy. The Pumpkin Patch will reconvene on Tuesday, although Director Kim Parker was not sure. She said she has had many offers to help. "I can't make any assumptions that this will be taken care of over the holidays, so I want to have a place that is suitable for the program," she said. "The community outpouring of support and suggestions has been amazing."

The bats believed to inhabit the old Wilson School are commonly known as little brown bats and "are no bigger than a person's thumb, eat as much as 1,000 mosquito sized insects every hour that they are hunting, and are very beneficial animals," Band said.

They hibernate elsewhere for the winter and will not be back until spring.

- editor@planetjh.com

PERMALINK:
Bats shut down Wilson Community Center | Planet JH News Article: Wilson Elementary School

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