When I was little, I'd see tons of bats flying around streetlights at night in my neighborhood in upstate New York. But I'll never forget the first time when I saw a bat up close. By the time I turned 7, though, I noticed something strange: All the bats in my neighborhood had disappeared, and I wondered why. Then, three years ago, when I was 11 and visiting the state fair, I learned what had happened to my town's bats. A disease called "white nose syndrome" had killed 93 percent of New York State's bats. I was horrified. Then I wrote a letter to the host of an environmental program on the local radio station, asking if they could do a show on bats. They did! But I still wanted to find a way to educate people face to face. I reached out to a teacher I had in elementary school and asked if I could make a presentation to her class. I described how bats help farmers by eating crop-damaging insects. It went over so well that other teachers started requesting me. Over the past three years, I've talked in front of everyone from 5-year-olds to senior citizens! Many people think that bats are blind, and that they always carry diseases, but none of that is true. The more I present, the more I notice that I am changing minds.  And while getting people to respect bats is pretty hard, getting them to respect me has been difficult too. When I first applied to host a booth   at a local street fair, the managers thought I was too young. But I refused to take "no" for an answer. I continued to make my case, and they finally said yes! The best part is, I impressed them so much -- 100 visitors on my first day -- that they now invite me back every year. All the bats in the neighborhood disappeared because they_.
were killed by a disease moved to another habitat were hunted by other animals hid in a place where people couldn't find them