“Eindhoven has a large population of bats and due to the many buildings, few bats remain”, Leo Klok, of nature organisation Trefpunt Groen (meeting point green), says. He therefore believes that additional bat houses are needed to protect the animals when demolition takes place, such as at Lorentz Casimir Lyceum.
He is happy that the secondary school does take the bats seriously during construction. “We have placed eight or nine poles in the area with various bat boxes, so that they can move when we build”, Kees van Grevenbroek, the site manager, says.
Flooded
The boxes should ensure that the bats do not remain in the school building during demolition. Forty boxes have also been placed on the edge of the new building. Lorentz Casimir has been overrun by bats for years. They are not yet causing any nuisance, according to the school.
Protection
Bats have been endangered for years. The number of bats has declined sharply in recent years. “Bats reproduce very slowly and many animals are lost during construction”, urban ecologist Frans Heijnen says.
Bats are protected by law. Construction of the new Lorentz should be completed next summer. The secondary school in the Tongelre district hopes that the bats will have found their new box by that time.
Source: Studio040
Translated by: Bob
