Lil’ Drac is an orphaned short-tailed fruit bat (Carollia perspicillata). His mother was yet another casualty of zoo closures that are occurring across the US. She was a young mother who was stressed from the conditions in which she was kept, combined with the additional trauma of being captured and transferred to a new and unfamiliar environment. Consequently, she abandoned Lil’ Drac after he was born. He was found on the padded floor of the indoor flight enclosure at Bat World Sanctuary, curled up in a little ball.

Lil’ Drac was warmed, comforted, and fed, then moved into an incubator so he would stay warm at all times. He quickly learned to nurse his milk formula from a foam tip and looked forward to feeding time. He also loved to groom his tiny body and stretch and flap his minuscule wings. Just a few days after he was rescued we learned that he liked to rock himself back and forth after he had eaten and after he had groomed.

When Lil’ Drac was old enough, he was slowly reintroduced back into the flight enclosure to be with other bats of his own kind. He slept by day in the incubator and was moved into a netted basket to spend his nights in the flight enclosure.

The basket protected him and allowed him to feel safewhile getting to know the other bats. Lil’ Drac was given practice flight lessons and in a few weeks -when he was flying well enough- the netting over the basket was lifted so he could fly in and out at will.

Lil Drac now lives with his bat friends full-time, and he still loves to rock himself.