Bats- There's Nothing To Fear!

There are a lot of people that will think on the media's perception when they think of bats. Movies, TV and ill informed people spread a horrible myth that is at best, WAY WAY over-exaggerated. Bats Carry Rabies.
NOT TRUE! Only 1% of all the bats in the world carry rabies, and those that do generally go find themselves a quiet place to die, away from all other creatures.
However, this horrible misconception still carries a death sentence for bats, should someone handle a bat bare-handed. The CDC will kill a bat should someone happen to pick it up with their bare hands, try to keep a wild bat as a pet or even think that it was given the slightest chance to bite someone.
Imagine this- You are traveling about, minding your own business and enjoying your life when you end up getting lost or hurt. You are scared, very scared and starting to panic a little when some thing 500 times your size comes at you, reaching out huge things to grab you. All you can think is "this thing is going to eat me!" as you try desperately to get away. You have only one defense, your teeth. You don't know that this huge thing is here to help or to hurt you, all you can think of is getting away, and now. So... You bite as hard as you can. THAT is how a bat feels when it's hurt or lost and someone who doesn't know what they are doing tries to pick it up. No matter what, if you are bitten by a wild animal, you MUST go to a hospital to be checked for diseases and infections.
The story doesn't end there... you've bitten the massive thing that was maybe trying to hurt you, and you drew blood. Despite feeling a bit of joy at successfully defending yourself, you are forced into a small container. There's no freedom, no room to move, no fresh air and no way of knowing where you are being taken. When you are finally able to get free, you are grabbed forcefully, you can't move and something sharp is shoved into your skin, injecting you with something. You start feeling sleepy, no matter how hard you try, you can't fight the sleep that calls you now. You close your eyes, hoping that when you wake up, you can FINALLY get back to your free life. You don't wake up ever again. That's right, the bat WILL be euthanized before they test it for Rabies. Why? Rabies can only be confirmed by examining the brain of an animal.

So, what should you do if you happen to find yourself in a position where you may have to handle a bat? Maybe one is laying on the ground in your back yard, trying to get somewhere so it can climb high up, or maybe it has found it's way into your home.

A- Put on thick gloves. Garden gloves or any sort of thick work glove will do. If you don't have that, wrap your hand in a towel.

B.1- If it's in you house, do NOT try to catch it while it's flying. You could seriously hurt it. Wait for it to land, settle a moment then slowly try to put a box over it. Carefully slide a flat piece of carboard or something else similarly flat beneath the box, trying your very best to not hurt the bat. Carefully walk the box outside and lay it gently on it's side. A bat cannot take off like a bird, so the box must sit so that the bat can crawl out. You MUST be very careful. Female bats carry their babies on their chest for the first few weeks, scaring the bat too much will cause it to abandon it's baby!

B.2- If it is on the ground, again, protect your hands with gloves or a towel, get a stick that is about 2 feet long and gently touch it to the bat's feet. If the bat isn't seriously hurt, it will grab onto the stick by instinct. Slowly and carefully move the stick with the bat to a tree and secure the stick near enough to a branch for it to move to and well away from danger, then watch it to see if it flies off. Again, you MUST be very careful, a female bat MAY have babies holding onto it's chest and belly.

C- If the bat doesn't seem able to leave or has obvious injuries, CALL A RESCUE AGENCY IMMEDIATELY! Until someone is able to come, put the bat in a box lined with an old tee shirt, give it a small dish of water and cover the box with a lid. Secure the lid well, some bats can get out through a hole as small as 1/4 an inch. Place the box in a secure place away from pets, children and noise until someone arrives to take it away for recuperation, medical care and eventual release. You must make sure that you CALL the rescue agency, volunteers work hours without checking emails, and every moment counts with an injured bat. If the rescue agency isn't near, or even in another state, don't worry. If they can't direct you to a closer agency, they will travel miles to save the bat. Just make sure you do NOT handle the bat more than needed to save it, and NEVER with bare hands.

WHY should we try to save bats? WE NEED THEM! Bats all across the world do important jobs. An insect eating bat eats 1/4-1/2 it's weight of insects a night. From pesky mosquitoes to insects that damage farm crops, they eat them and keep their numbers down. 90% of imported tropical fruits are pollinated by fruit bats, and they spread out seeds from other fruit plants by eating the fruit and err... Guano contains seeds, if you get the drift. Do you like bananas? Yeah... Bat's do too, and without the work bats do to pollinate them, we wouldn't have them. Besides, they also help us with breathing. Bats spread seeds that grow trees, trees give us oxygen. Take a deep breath and thank a bat for it.

Bats are VERY important. We NEED them more than we realize. However, bats need our help too. If you want to know more, feel free to Maramail me, I can provide you with a link to a VERY reputable and wide spread rescue organization, there you can learn about bats and the stories behind some of the ones that were saved. How do I know it's so good? A VERY good friend of mine works with the Maine Branch of the organization, and she shares all the stories of her little ones with me. From the happy tales of bats that merely got stuck somewhere and just needed a little care and love before they could be free again to the sad, heartbreaking stories of the ones that will never fly again, she tells me about the bats and other creatures she helps.

Bats are graceful, smart, long-lived, IMPORTANT and most of all, they are CUTE!