Trooper is a juvenile Mexican free-tail bat who had a bit of a rough start in life. He somehow sustained a wing injury as a young pup, likely in the roost where he was born. The bones of a baby bat’s wing are incredibly soft. When a bat roost is in an older building made of bricks or sandstone, their tiny fingers can easily become caught and injured. This is the case with Trooper, who somehow lost the majority of his wing fingers after he was born (photo of the healed injury below). As luck would have it, he had an excellent mom who fed and nurtured him until he was healed, but then it came time for him to leave the roost and fly. That’s when he found himself in deep trouble. He fell to the ground, unsure of where else to go and unable to return to his family, Trooper began crawling across the pavement searching for a safe place to hide. He was eventually spotted outside of a local church, and the finders immediately called us. We aren’t sure exactly how far little Trooper traveled, but we do know that the nearest bat colony is blocks away through a busy downtown area. Somehow little Trooper managed to avoid traffic while crossing roads and also avoid the feral cat population in the area. Trooper is a very lucky little bat.