Lovely. Idiot “militia” members from out of state confronted scientists studying bat populations in Southern Arizona recently.

It happened Aug. 23 in the Gardner Canyon area near Sonoita where the small group of conservationists was out in the middle of the night conducting a wildlife population survey, in this case, counting bats.

Nobody was hurt during the confrontation, but the incident has law enforcement taking notice.

Santa Cruz County Sheriff Tony Estrada say the militiamen were on ATVs. They were carrying weapons and were wearing camouflage.

“Obviously, they mistook them for smugglers or illegal entrants,” says Santa Cruz County Sheriff Tony Estrada. “They were armed. They put a spotlight on them.”

Good thing the scientists didn’t have a passel of rabid bats to set on these stupid clowns. It would have served them right. And doesn’t Arizona have enough loony armed right-wingers who want to hunt border crossers? It certainly doesn’t need visitors from Colorado coming down to help.

The local sheriff wasn’t amused.

Sheriff Estrada says Santa Cruz County does not welcome border militia groups.

“These people that are completely out of their environment. They really don’t know the area. They don’t know the terrain. They have little knowledge of the dynamics of the border. So it can be a real problem,” Estrada says. “We really don’t want them here.”

“It can be a problem for them. It can be a problem for the people, just like in this particular case. Things could have gone terribly wrong,” Estrada says. “They really don’t accomplish anything. They really don’t. With about 1,000 Border Patrol Agents here in Santa Cruz County, a little group of any militiamen are not going to make any difference at all. As a matter of fact, they’re going to get in the way and they could get hurt. Or they could hurt somebody else.”