Saturday Morning Clean-Up Held at LV Community Park
Plus: Stray Cat Looking for Home, and LV residents Learn to Appreciate Bats
Editor’s note: This is a special abbreviated Monday edition of the Linda Vista Update. We want to report in a timely manner on a couple of community events that occurred on Saturday. We believe the events reflect the same kind of community spirit we want to cultivate by publishing this newsletter. We also want to use this opportunity to let our readers know about a cat looking for a home. We are hoping one of our readers can step up and provide a solution for this cat’s situation. We will publish our regular newsletter edition this Thursday.
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On Saturday September 30, the non-profit organization I Love a Clean San Diego partnered with San Diego Gas and Electric (SDG &E) and the office of District 7 Councilmember Raul Campillo to conduct a clean-up of Linda Vista Community Park. The clean-up attracted approximately 70 San Diegans to the park to pick up trash around the playing fields and picnic areas.
Volunteers consisted of individuals and teams of different local organizations looking for a way to complete community service while at the same time helping to keep San Diego clean.
The event was conducted from 9:00 am to 11:00 am at a very appropriate location. As mentioned in previous LV Update articles, the Linda Vista Community Park and Recreation Center has played an ever-increasing role in hosting numerous sports/recreational activities during the past couple years. And this summer it served as an ideal location for the City of San Diego/San Diego Park Foundation’s popular Parks After Dark program, which occurred over eight weekends. As pointed out by several of our newsletter readers, the Parks After Dark program has helped to change the public’s perception of the LV Community Park, proving it is capable of providing a safe and family friendly environment for all local residents. Certainly, after hosting all this action, the Linda Vista Community Park is deserving of San Diegans taking the time to clear it of trash/litter.
If you would like to volunteer for a future clean-up coordinated by I Love a Clean San Diego, you can sign up here.
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The LV Update wishes to thank all the volunteers who participated in Saturday’s Clean-Up activity.
Friendly Male Cat Looking for a Home
One of our enthusiastic LV Update readers recently let us know about a friendly stray cat who needs a home. This cat has been hanging around outside her friend’s condo in Mission Valley (near Snapdragon Stadium). The condo owner already owns a cat and can’t take this one in, and the enthusiastic LV Update reader who told us about him recently adopted one of our former foster kittens, so she can’t adopt another cat at this time, but both individuals feel confident that this cat would make a great addition to any family.
In the past, our community of readers has responded to our need to find homes for the kittens we foster for the SD Humane Society, and so we thought about reaching out and giving it a try with this adult cat (see above and below photos) to see if any of our readers might be interested in adopting him. We have been told he is a male neutered cat who is estimated to be about 2 years old. He has been described as possessing a very friendly demeanor. As you can see from the photo, he is a very sleek, handsome boy.
If you are interested in adopting him, or know of someone who might be interested, please contact us and let us know. We would be happy to help arrange a meeting with any potential owner and this eager-for-a-home cat.
October is National Bat Appreciation Month
Linda Vista Residents Learn About Bats
Blame it on author Bram Stoker and his scary novel Dracula. Or perhaps pin some of the blame on Bela Lugosi and his classic film depiction of creepy vampire Count Dracula. In any event, bats have long suffered from a dubious public image. The idea of getting bit by a vampire bat and having to live an eternal life as a spooky, blood sucking, cape wearing creature has not done the bat population any favors. Fortunately, occasions like Bat Appreciation Month (every October), and events like this Saturday’s Nature Arts and Crafts Day at Mission Heights Park encourage us to learn about and ultimately value the role bats play in our environment.
This past Saturday morning, local realtor Bree Partington hosted another of her fun community events for Linda Vista families. The event included Mission Trails Park volunteer Lorri Freitas presenting interesting information to family members about bats. Kids also took part in activities like coloring bat masks and reading fun facts on bats and how to help conserve bats and their environment. She also demonstrated a bat acoustic app that can be used to detect bats navigating in the air (echolocation) and identify the actual species of bat based on their sound. As Freitas mentioned, bats play a valuable role in keeping the local insect population down. Here are some interesting facts about bats.
—Over 300 species of fruit depend on bats for pollination.
—Each night, bats eat their body weight in insects.
—Bats can reach speeds of over 100 miles per hour.
—About 80 medicines come from plants that rely on bats for their survival.
—By eating insects, bats save U.S. agriculture billions of dollars a year in pest control.
Freitas pointed out that bats face a threat from both climate change and habitat destruction, as well as a disease called white nose syndrome which can wipe out bat colonies. These threats make the protection of bats and their habitats even more important.
For those wanting to learn more about bats, Freitas encouraged attendees to sign up for the next Mission Trails Regional Park Bat Walk, which will be held October 14 (6:00 pm). You can sign up here. During these walks, “Bat Ambassadors will explain their unique bodies and special adaptations that make bats such remarkable animals, the only mammals that can fly. Using an ultrasonic microphone and a tablet, you will be able to “hear” and identify their high frequency echolocation calls used to navigate and find and catch prey in complete darkness.”
In addition to October being National Bat Appreciation Month, keep in mind the last week in October is recognized internationally as Bat Appreciation Week. So go ahead and dress up for Halloween as a vampire, but don’t forget to take a moment to appreciate all the good things bats do for our environment.
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The Linda Vista Update wishes to thank Bree Partington for coordinating Saturday’s community event and for taking the time to help build community spirit
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The Linda Vista Update is a weekly digital newsletter that publishes informative, interesting and fun news about Linda Vista and its neighboring communities.
We will publish our next regular weekly edition on Thursday October 4.