20K Bats Move Into Georgia House

Thousands of Georgia residents are actually benefiting from the housing crisis—trouble is, they’re not human. After the foreclosure of a Victorian house in Tifton, bats began taking up residence in the home; now, 20,000 of the creatures may be inside, prompting the city to make it officially limits to curious visitors. “You can’t imagine how thick they must be in there," an animal control official tells the New York Times. "They’re in the walls and ceilings."

Neighbors aren’t happy: “With that many bats, any house in Tifton is at risk for the bats coming,” one says. “You ain’t smelled nothing until you come back here on a hot day," says another. Laws protect the bats from extermination, but locals could install special tubes that let the animals out and not back in. As they weigh their options, this OnEarth blogger thinks the city could embrace the bats in the name of pest control. (More bats stories.)