Keeping the bats out of the Brooks Center

Clemson University Facilities and private pest-control experts are working to make sure the bats that caused the Brooks Center for the Performing Arts to cancel performances will go away and stay away. The maintenance staff has installed an “excluder” – a device that allows bats to leave a building but not return – at a small gap in an outside wall where about 20 bats were seen entering. Since two bats were first sighted at Brooks Feb. 27, the maintenance team has worked to humanely remove bats from the building and seal any entry points. A firm reopening date for the Brooks Theatre has not been established, but a prolonged closure is not anticipated. When the two bats were first sighted, Clemson University Facilities personnel responded promptly, arriving the next morning to investigate and inspect the wall of the Brooks Theatre where free-tailed bats had roosted in spring 2018. Though roosting activity was not immediately apparent, additional bats were seen at the Brooks Center over the weekend. The Facilities staff and contractors continue to inspect outside walls at the Brooks Center, especially areas where masonry and metal meet, to seal any gaps they encounter. In 2018, the Brooks Theatre was closed from March 30 to April 27 due to a more extensive bat issue, a free-tailed bat colony that had roosted in a wall.