IRON RIDGE -- We still have to wait to learn if the boys who became trapped inside an abandoned mine will be charged for trespassing.
Tate Rose, Zachary Heron, and Samuel Lein were lost in the Dodge County mine for 20 hours before being rescued Monday.
TODAY'S TMJ4 was shown a winding map of four miles of the underground mine, last used more than 100 years ago.
The boys were found about 200 yards inside, cold, and in the dark.
The land is owned by UW-Milwaukee. UWM Biologist Gretchen Meyer tells us they spent Tuesday making sure every entrance to the tunnels is closed.
No one ever ventures inside except experienced cavers to collect bat population data.
"This actually is one of the largest sites for hibernating bats in the Midwest. We estimate it has about 150,000 bats that use the mine every winter," said Gretchen Meyer, manager of the UW-Milwaukee field station.
What is also unknown is who will pay for the rescue response by several counties, including Milwaukee Fire.
The Dodge County Sheriff tells us at this point, he could not even put a dollar amount on the resources it took to rescue the boys.
