TRAVELERS REST, S.C. —

Sunrift Adventures, an outdoor shop located in Traveler's Rest, completed its annual "bat count" today, totaling 625 bats living throughout their nine bat houses.

Sunrift held its annual "bat count" event on Thursday, which invited the Traveler's Rest community to get involved in counting the number of bats living on the store's property.

The process of counting the bats is done by recording the bat's activity and manually counting them as they exit the houses, and as temperatures begin to drop, the bats become increasingly dormant.

"Bats are the most misunderstood animals, so it's really about educating the public," Jon Gillespie, Sunrift's bat house manager, said. "Bats save farmers 115 million in pesticide control, so they're really important."

The bat houses

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