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Add an EventTexas states Amanda Lollar, Bat World Sanctuary are not bat experts
Connally went on to address some inaccurate statements Lollar made in the invitation. "WNS has not been detected in Oklahoma. The fungus that causes WNS was detected in western Oklahoma a few years back; however, despite many comprehensive additional surveys, it has not been detected again, nor has the disease WNS been detected anywhere in the state."
Amanda Lollar had been stating that WNS was detected in Oklahoma which is right across the river from Texas. Lollar even told the Health Inspector for Mineral Wells that her bats have WNS. Lollar stated this to garner sympathy and donations to her group. Lollar had told an intern in 2010 that she hoped her bats would get WNS so she could get a lot of money in donations. The main bat in Texas is the Mexican free-tail bat. They do not hibernate. Therefore they cannot get WNS. That did not stop Lollar from sending multiple painful wing punches to the lab for testing. Connally corrected Lollar's false statement by stating "The fungus and its expression as WNS have not been detected in Texas."
Lollar had been stating that only Bat World Sanctuary has a USFWS approved protocol for the treatment and release of WNS bats. From her CV "Co-developed the United States Fish and Wildlife Service protocol for wildlife rehabilitators in response to White Nose Syndrome (WNS) affected bats in the northeastern U.S. Impact: Provided set procedures for the care of debilitated bats suffering from a disease with no known cure." This is of course untrue. Lollar is not allowed to handle WNS bats.
Connally stated "There are currently no USFWS-approved protocols for the treatment and release of WNS-positive (WNS+) bats." As it is bat experts know that WNS affected bats merely need basic supportive care. She went on to state "Bottom line is that we (Texas) would not want to accept WNS+ bats from outside of the state. And, per the Bat World Wildlife Rehabilitation Permit Provision 12, y'all are not authorized to transport from/to other states without coordinating written permission with TPWD. TPWD would not permit WNS+ bats coming across state lines into Texas to any TPWD-permitted rehab facility, nor would be authorize acceptance of any bats from WNS+ states." Connally cited legitimate quarantine and health concerns which Lollar didn't even consider because she lacks an education.
Connally continued "In the event that WNS is detected in Texas, we would currently follow the established USFWS protocols for detection and response. TPWD will preview all bat rehabilitator's permits and may include some level of quarantine holding and transfer to a permitted scientific research facility, but would not include treatment or release until we know more about the disease." These are of course wise public safety issues that need to be considered. Otherwise the WNS bats could spread the disease to other healthy bats.
Connally ended her letter by stating "I'm a bit concerned with this statement: 'The cost of the symposium will be used to fund a new state-of-the-art sanctuary facility for the successful rescue, breeding, maintenance and eventual release of bats affected by WNS.' At this time, TPWD would not provide a permit for any facility to rescue, breed, maintain or especially release bats which test positive for the fungus or WNS until peer reviewed research has shown that the treatment could be affective. Additionally the Bat World Wildlife Rehabilitation Permit Provision 15a prohibits breeding of any of the animals held under the authority of the permit. No captive, rehabbing, or unreleasable bats can be bred at your rehabilitation facility under your permit. All rehab animals at any facility should be separated by sex to prevent breeding." Connally obviously did not know that Lollar had been bragging that she has the "only captive breeding colony of insectivorous bats" "with over nine generations being born in the sanctuary." Lollar even posts the genealogy of her bats even though she is not allowed to let them breed. Lollar had her pro-bono attorney Randy Turner of Bailey & Galyen tell a judge in a Texas court room that she has over 350 captive unreleasable bats, even though she doesn't have a permit for any unreleasable bats.
The invitation stated that live bats from Bat World would be used in the symposium. Connally stated "The Bat World Wildlife Rehabilitation Permit allows (Provision 10) limited permanent retention of non-releasable wildlife for approved educational, fostering, or socialization purposes, or for transfer to zoological, scientific, or educational permit holders. Requests must be made in writing to the department. Using live bats during the symposium is fine if they are not bats currently under rehabilitative care and if they've been approved by TPWD to retain as non-releasable for education. I noticed on some of your past annual reports that you indicated several bats in some years that were transferred to captive colony; however, I'm unaware of any case-by-case approvals in our files which would authorize you to hold any non-releasable bats for educational purpose and y'all do not have an education display permit for that purpose." Connally did not know that Bat World Sanctuary's USDA exhibit permit was cancelled March 2012 even though the invitation stated they still had their USDA permit. Needless to say BRIT backed out of the symposium. Lollar tried to argue to TPWD that an over zealous volunteer wrote and sent that invitation but that was not true. She left a copy of it in her website and people had been forwarding it.
Amanda Lollar has been stating for years that Bat World is "the only non-profit organization actively seeking to save bats in danger of extinction from White Nose Syndrome by creating assurance colonies." Not only is Bat World not the ONLY organization trying to help WNS bats but they are not allowed to treat WNS bats. They are not even allowed to have an assurance colony yet on their Facebook page and website they are begging for money to build such a facility. One must wonder what she will do with the donations since she cannot build an assurance colony, cannot have WNS bats and cannot display bats.
In 2011 Bat World Sanctuary and Amanda Lollar were investigated by USDA, TPWD, the Health Dept of Texas and the City of Mineral Wells. USDA cancelled her permit in 2012. TPWD sent her a stern letter about obeying her permit restrictions. Health Dept gave her a long laundry list of rules that she must follow to reduce the risk of rabies. After the investigation Lollar requested that TPWD write a statement saying "Texas Parks and Wildlife investigated Amanda Lollar and Bat World Sanctuary, saw no evidence to back up the accusations, and found the complaints to be without merit." TPWD wrote back that they would only say "according to one of our game wardens, there is no current active investigation." They stated in another letter that they had no time to fully investigate. Of course that didn't stop Lollar from stating that TPWD, Health Dept and USDA cleared her of all wrong doing. They most certainly did not.
The City of Minerals and her neighbors have made complaints about Lollar for the last 20 years about the smell, guano on the streets and rabid bats. Finally Lollar stated to the City at the end of 2011 that she was fed up with all the complaints so she was selling the building and leaving town. January 2012 Lollar sold the wild sanctuary building at 115 NE 1st St. She built a cement block structure supposedly outside of town. She's been trapping and relocating the bats to the building who immediately fly back to town. Because Lollar lacks any formidable education she did not realize that crevice bats do not want to live in a new cold odd-smelly building with no crevices away from food sources. It appears the bats have finally spoken. Amanda Lollar and Bat World Sanctuary are not bat experts.
People need to take a look at the false claims in her curriculum vitae. She states,
"Scientific wildlife rehabilitator licensed with the State of Texas, specializing in bats. State permitted to hold and rehabilitate threatened and endangered species of bats. USDA licensed."
She is not a scientific wildlife rehabilitator. She is not allowed to have threatened and endangered bats because she has no F&WS permit for those bats. She does not have a USDA license. It was cancelled.
"Author of both popular and scientific information about bats."
She has never written and had a peer reviewed article published as the sole author. She is no scientist.
"Founded Bat World Sanctuary, an indoor, simulated natural habitat facility that currently houses over 300 non-releasable bats. The population includes bats that are orphaned, injured, confiscated from the illegal pet trade and retired from zoos and research facilities."
She doesn't have permits for these unreleasable bats.
"Created the first nutritionally sound diet for convalescing insectivorous bats. Impact: Allows bat care specialists and rehabilitators to provide proper nutrition to bats that are too frightened or compromised to self feed."
Not true. People have been rehabbing bats for years before Lollar ever saw a bat.
"Conducted the first successful mating behavior study for the Mexican free-tailed bat (T. brasiliensis), including their complicated social structure."
Again, totally untrue. There have been many real scientific studies on the mating behavior of Mexican free-tail bats.
"Established 20 BWS Rescue Centers across the U.S."
She didn't establish anything. These centers belong to other organizations. She just tries to put her name on them.
"Co-authored the first medical reference available for insectivorous bats: Captive Care and Medical Reference for the Rehabilitation of Insectivorous Bats."
Bats in Captivity was written many years earlier.
"Authored Standards and Medical Management for Captive Insectivorous Bats."
This is plagiarized from the previous book written by Barbara French. She even removes credit to French. Lollar did not go past the ninth grade. She wrote her original 1994 manual but she did not write this book.
"Co-developed the United States Fish and Wildlife Service protocol for wildlife rehabilitators in response to White Nose Syndrome (WNS) affected bats in the northeastern U.S. Impact: Provided set procedures for the care of debilitated bats suffering from a disease with no known cure."
Completely untrue as per TPWD. There is a cure. It's called supportive care. She is not allowed to treat WNS bats because she is not qualified.
"Implemented the development of the first bat-specific milk replacement formula for orphaned insectivorous bat pups, and made the recipe available to bat care professionals around the world, free of charge. 2007."
Untrue. Bat rehabbers had recipes for milk replacers before. CA bat rehabbers specifically stated in a 1989 manual not to use Petag Esbilac. Lollar did not know this, used it and killed 85% of the babies.
"Proved that hand-raised, orphaned T. brasiliensis can be released into the wild and learn to forage for insects on their own."
Her original manual said you should never release hand raised babies.
"Co-authored the North American Migratory Bat Act, a proposed bill three years in the making. Impact: Provides the stimulus for legislation to be passed to give bats federal protection under the Migratory Species Act."
A "proposed" act. No one has done anything with this. This is like the Unabomber writing a manifesto.
"Created a prototype tattoo device for insectivorous bats intended to replace wing bands that have proved injuri-ous to many species of wild bats. Impact: Proved there are humane alternatives to ‘accepted’ methods that cause injury and death in otherwise healthy bats"
Untrue. She merely puts tattoo ink on bats' heads to identify them for maybe 12 hours. Then it comes off. She has no tattoo gun, has never given a bat a tattoo. She has no identification system at all. She merely uses this to attack others.
"Secured private land and architectural plans to build a man-made cave outside the city limits of Mineral Wells, TX. Impact: Provide protected habitat for current population and future generations of T. brasiliensis Mexi-cana in order to move more than 2 million bats out of the city limits where they are not protected."
She took the plans from another person who did build an artificial bat cave. There are bats in that cave. Lollar built a cement block structure. She traps and relocates bats to the Bat Castle. The bats immediately fly back home. Because she is uneducated and didn't ask bat experts for help, she wasted $35,000 building a useless structure.
"In 1994, Ms. Lollar liquidated her furniture business in order to establish the Bat World Sanctuary facility."
It was her mother's furniture business. Her mother died and left it to Lollar. Lollar didn't want to work so she decided to just rescue bats instead. Her father recently died and left her money. Currently Lollar takes at least $1,500/mo from Bat World for "rent." Most people believes she lives off of donations from Bat World. This woman is a total fraud.
by Vespertilio
Within the last few weeks Amanda Lollar admitted that two wardens from Texas Parks & Wildlife, a USDA inspector, animal control, Fish & Wildlife, a representative from the Health Department and the City Manager for Mineral Wells, Texas paid unexpected visits at Bat World Sanctuary. Lollar is currently being investigated by the USDA and Parks and Wildlife for animal cruelty and other related violations.
Videos and photos surfaced over the past two weeks showing Amanda Lollar performing surgery on bats. Lollar is not a licensed veterinarian. In one such video Lollar tries to perform an episiotomy on a bat with no pain relief. After cutting the bat three times she begins to pull the baby out. After mistaking the baby's head for a foot, she accidentally pulled the umbilicus out. Then she accidentally pulled the bat's vagina and uterus out. The bat can be seen convulsing right before passing out. She later died along with her baby. Lollar used photos from this episiotomy in her book to show a "proper episiotomy." She does not mention what really happened to the bat and pup.
In another video Lollar can be seen pulling out the teeth of a bat again with no pain relief. The bat tries to bite Lollar and fights her. She continues to pull out his molars while he bleeds. Lollar again uses this video to proudly show "proper dental extraction" in her book.
Because of the backlash against Lollar caused by the gruesome videos and photos, Lollar has tried to quiet the person who took the original videos by getting a temporary injunction to temporarily remove them from the internet. In court documents Lollar claims she owns the proprietary way in which she did the episiotomy and dental extraction. She claims the videos and photos show copyrighted materials.
Similar photos and videos are in her book which is available free online. It should be noted her book is a "how to" book showing people how to care for bats. Lollar does not seem to grasp the fair use act of copyright. If she does not want people to share or use her techniques, perhaps she should not write a "how to" book. Techniques can never be copyrighted, only the exact words used to express them.
Lollar also claimed she did not give permission to the person who took the videos and photos. Extensive emails, documents, video footage and independent eyewitness testimony show otherwise.
In a court hearing in Fort Worth, Texas on May 4, 2011 Lollar claimed she was an "internationally renown bat expert." Upon cross-examination Lollar was questioned about her education and experience. Lollar was asked if she had a PhD, Masters Degree, College Degree or even just a high school diploma. She proudly replied "nope!" When asked where she received her many years of formal training and education she proudly stated she had no training and learned everything through "trial and error."
Lollar was asked if she was a "scientist." She replied "yes." She was asked if she ever had a peer review journal article published as a sole author. She replied "no." On the stand Lollar stated that she had the "largest bat sanctuary in the world" with 200-300 bats. When asked about the Samal Monfort Bat Sanctuary which holds the Guiness World Record for largest bat sanctuary with 1.8M to 2.5M bats, she changed her story. She stated she had the "largest enclosed bat sanctuary for unreleasable bats."
While on the stand Lollar admitted to possessing and using Isoflurane. She obviously didn't realize that it is a controlled substance which can only be possessed and used by a doctor. Lollar uses Isoflurane to sedate bats for surgery and to euthanize them by overdosing them.
In Lollar's book she states "the author routinely vaccinates bats taken in from the wild that will be added to captive study colonies." She not only suggests the dosage but even posted video of herself giving rabies vaccinations to bats. On the stand she stated it was just water. She stated she has no rabies vaccinations and never gives rabies vaccinations. Videos, photos and eyewitness accounts prove otherwise.
This is not the first time Lollar has had people state that her methods were illegal acts of animal cruelty or not sound. In an earlier manual Lollar instructed people just to glue broken bones together. She obviously does not understand basic biology or anatomy. One writer stated "Lollar (1994) gave detailed instructions on gluing wing fractures, but failed to explain how to maintain blood flow across the fracture-line through the glue. She also did not report the number of successful treatments achieved."
In the same manual Lollar recommended using WD-40 to remove tar and oil from bats, "Roofing tar and oil may be removed with WD-40® (Lollar, 1994)." One writer stated "WD-40®, however, is extremely toxic, so every effort must be made to wash it off a bat's fur, presumably with soap and water (Lollar failed to say)."
Lollar also recommended a cruel method to euthanize bats. "Lollar (1994) advocate putting bats in a refrigerator until torpid and then transferring them to a freezer. Stebbings (pers. comm. to Routh, 1991) states that this method is inhumane; a view shared by the American Veterinary Medical Association. As the bat's body temperature approaches freezing, the animal awakes from torpor in an attempt to find a warmer environment (Davis and Reite, 1967; Hock, 1960; Mumford, 1958)."
It's very possible Amanda Lollar could lose her wildlife rehabilitation and USDA permits because of these recent complaints. They are not the first. Freedom of Information Act requests will be sent to receive the result of the investigations. The results will be reported here. The results of her ongoing legal action to quiet the whistle blower will also be posted here.
Here is a link to her manual in which she recommends freezing bats to death.
http://www.indybay.org/uploads/2012/02/24/amanda_lollar_1994_manual_original.pdf
The American Veterinary Medical Association states that is animal cruelty, inhumane and illegal yet Amanda Lollar of Bat World Sanctuary recommended it. She states you should leave the bat in the freezer for six weeks to make sure it's dead. Obviously Amanda Lollar is completely uneducated. Fortunately everyone at TPWD, FWS, BCI and others all know that Amanda Lollar is a complete and utter fraud. She is not allowed to have bats with White Nose Syndrome. She is not allowed to have an assurance colony. She is not allowed to let her bats breed. She is still violation regulations. They will soon shut her down.
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