Bats disaster

(First Edition)

SNEADS, FLORIDA (AP) - Nearly a quarter of a million bats may have drowned when tropical storm Alberto flooded their cave in July, a wildlife biologist, Jeff Gore, reported. The bat's range extends over much of the south-eastern US and, although it is not an endangered or threatened species, farmers might lament the loss; the bats eat insects and mosquitoes and help pollinate plants.