AUSTIN, Texas — The City of Austin could soon have a bat biologist on staff.
The City's Animal Advisory Commission voted to recommend the City hire or contract a chiropterologist, or a bat biologist. The commission said this is important because Austin is home to the largest urban bat colony in America.
About 1.5 million bats live under the Congress Avenue Bridge. It's quite a sight when they fly out from under it at sunset, and watching the bats is a popular tourist attraction.
The Animal Advisory Commission wants a scientist on staff to preserve that piece of Austin.
"Chiropterologists are not very common, and I would suspect that there are very few chiropterologists in Austin available to contract," one member of the commission said during its meeting on Tuesday. "The idea of putting a job here is some young student studying chiropterology would say, 'Wow, what an amazing job. I can actually make a living doing this.'"
The commission also wants the biologist to take on the duties of citywide rabies reports concerning the bats and solving any problems related to what the commission called "human/bat conflict."