Bat house turns dream into nightmare

Patty Coffey thought it would be her dream house. That was before she knew the attic was filled with bats.

And before, she says, several authorities had told her the bats can’t be removed until the fall.

Her dream, which she now calls a nightmare, began years ago. At the time, she and her son, Zeb Gallagher, rented a home a few blocks away. As Patty is disabled, Zeb lives with her to help care for her.

When Coffey used to walk the neighborhood, she’d notice the slate-blue, two-story house. And she fell in love with the historic home at 1445 Mill St.

So, when she found it was for sale earlier this year, she jumped at the chance to live there. Her son and a partner came up with the money. The sale closed in mid-June and Gallagher moved in shortly afterward. Coffey stayed in the rental.

Soon after Gallagher moved in, he noticed what looked like water stains on the second-floor ceilings. About the same time, some neighbors dropped by. They asked if he knew he was living in the “bat house of South Roseburg,” his mother said.

Gallagher and another neighbor, Dave Schubert, ventured up into the attic. They found what Schubert estimates is up to 20 bat nests, full of baby bats, in the rafters.

The also found foot-tall mounds of guano, Schubert recalled. They later went up with respirators and protective gear and hauled out at least 10 five-gallon buckets of bat waste, he said.

This morning, nests of baby bats still snuggled up into corners of the rafters. A layer of guano covered a 3-by-5-foot area of a piece of plywood placed beneath one of the nests. The smell of guano filled the attic.

After Coffey discovered the bats, she said she went to the city and was told officials were not aware of the problem.

Then Coffey said she went to the state Department of Fish and Wildlife office on Highway 138. She said she was told that because the bats are nesting, the nests can’t be removed until the babies are old enough to fly out on their own.

The wildlife biologist at the office did not return calls for comment.

Coffey said the office referred her to a specialist, whom she calls a “relocator,” to possibly remove the bats. He told Coffey the same thing, she says — the bat babies are too small to move.

After that, she took a more novel approach to her problem. Hearing that bat guano makes good fertilizer, she called six nurseries, asking if they’d like to come harvest some from her attic. She didn’t get any takers.

On a more serious note, Coffey wonders why the real estate agent who sold her the house didn’t tell her about the unwanted pets, especially since so many neighbors knew about the bats.

Although she said she hasn’t called the company directly, the company sent her a survey asking her opinion on the service she received. She made it clear she wasn’t happy to not know about the bats before moving in.

J.T. Berk, the real estate broker who represented the sellers, said he contacted them after he heard the media had picked up the story.

Berk said the sellers told him they had no idea bats inhabited the attic. He also said the house has been a rental for some time, so the sellers have not been living in it.

As for removing the bats, Coffey feels she’s reached a dead end for now. She said she was hoping the media attention the bats have stirred up might lead someone to offer her a suggestion she hasn’t thought of yet.

In the meantime, she’ll continue to move out of her rental down the street, which she needs to be out of by Aug. 1, and into her new home.

She’ll also try to figure out what to do with the pile of bat guano sitting in her yard.

“The neighborhood is having a yard sale in a couple weeks. I thought I could put it in little Ziplock baggies and sell it for $1 a bag,” Coffey joked. “Maybe that would pay for the relocator to move (the bats).”

• You can reach reporter Kathy Korengel at 957-4218 or by e-mail at kkorengel@nrtoday.com.