Tri-County Toastmasters #5682

On Tuesday October 28, 2008, Dr. Todd Austin had the opportunity to teach more than 225 Virden Elementary School students about bats. Austin, a Virden Doctor of Chiropractic, has been an active member of Bat Conservation International (BCI) for eighteen years.

Austin also became a member of Toastmasters in 1994 and is currently an officer for Virden’s Tri-County Toastmasters Club. Toastmasters has taught him how to take his love, passion and
enthusiasm for the world’s only flying mammals and turn that into an exciting presentation that others can learn from. Austin, sometimes called ‘The Bat Doctor’, has been speaking to audiences of all ages about bats since 1996.

Austin enjoys speaking about how bats are beneficial to people and the environment. "Bats tend to be misunderstood by many of us because they are usually only awake at nighttime” explains Austin. “My mission as a BCI volunteer is to drum up some good public relations for bats. If I can get even a handful of kids excited about bats, and even just one of them decides to go into a field such as bat research or conservation, then I’ve done my duty as a BCI member.”

Dr. Austin educated Virden Kindergarteners and 1st graders with his Powerpoint slide presentation called “Halloween, Vampires and Other Bats”. Later that day, he educated Virden 4th graders with another of his Powerpoint slide presentations entitled “How To Become A
Bat Ambassador”. Austin has compiled a set of over 100 slides that he uses for his bat programs. Most of the photos are courtesy of BCI founder Dr. Merlin Tuttle, who is known as the ‘world’s
leading bat photographer’. Twenty of the slides are from Austin’s own personal work with bats over the years.

"The kids really loved the bat slide presentation." said Austin "The slide of the California leaf-nosed bat which Austin and the kids affectionately referred to as ‘Mr. Rabbit Ears’, and the photo of the Wrinkle-faced bat that resembles a dinosaur elicited the most laughter from the audience. The kids also thought the picture of the Little Brown bat being held in the palm of a human hand was simply adorable".

• Austin started out by dispelling some of the myths about bats, like the ones that bats are ugly and that all bats are blind.


• He also told about how vampire bats actually lick up (not suck) the blood from birds and farm animals in Mexico and South America.


• He then stressed many of the ways bats are good for our environment:
  
  
  
  • Kids were taught that a single Little Brown bat can eat 1,000 mosquitoes in just one hour.
  
  
  • They learned about how Big Brown bats help out farmers considerably by controlling the number of crop pests that damage corn crops.
  
  They also heard about how bats in other parts of the world are essential for the survival of the rainforests, because they help flowers and trees to grow.
  


• Austin emphasized the fact that bats are wild animals that should never be touched. The children were informed that if they ever encountered a bat on the ground, they should leave it alone. This is because it might be a sick bat which could cause them to get sick too.

"While I enjoy speaking to audiences of all ages," says Dr. Austin, "children are the future guardians of our planet. A little bit of education at an early age can go a long way toward changing preconceived negative attitudes about these remarkably fascinating and highly beneficial flying mammals."

Austin donated three books Bats Love The Night, Time For Kids: Bats and Bats: Creatures Of The Night to the school library. Virden’s ‘Bat Doctor’ also left bat rings for all the students as well as Bat Fact Cards for the 4th graders.