A PRECIOUS ACCIDENT
This is baby Ronan, a precious little accident that wasn’t supposed to happen. He was born two weeks ago and then abandoned by his mother, an African fruit bat. Ronan is the offspring of one of the very elderly African fruit bat males that we rescued from OBC last year. The boys are too old to safely anesthetize to neuter, so we assumed that they were too old to be frisky as well. Apparently one of them proved us wrong. ♥
THE CAPTAIN
When the Houston Zoo contacted us asking to retire a beautiful Indian flying fox, of course we said yes. Their bat exhibit closed, and after learning we had two other Indian flying foxes they wanted to send him here so he would not be alone.
“Captain Majestic”, as our wonderful vet, Tad Jarrett, DVM calls him, is now making new friends. The Captain hasn’t seen another of his same species since he was born and we were as excited as he was to give him this opportunity. Watch a video of The Captain on this link.
A NEW TREE HOUSE
We had to increase the size of our “geribatric ward” to 10 feet long because many of our residents are growing old. These elderly sweeties still enjoy being with their own kind but they are prone to falls. The new geribatric ward was combined with Statler’s tree house, and hangs from the ceiling so the bats get a sense of being up high with all of their friends, but with no danger of hurting themselves if they fall (the floor is also padded to prevent injuries). The enclosure contains all the creature comforts these oldsters want – food, water, juice, treats, fruit kabobs and fleece-lined hammocks to rest their little arthritic feet. Currently there are 4 Egyptian fruit bats over 20 years old, three elderly short-tailed fruit bats, five Jamaican fruit bats 22 to 25 years old, Coconut, an elderly African fruit bat, and Statler, a 33 year-old Indian flying fox. Statler is hanging in front of the fleece-lined hammock he likes to sleep in during the day. All of the bats are allowed to exit any time they’d like, however, they always stay put, even with the doors wide open.
BAT CASTLE UPDATE
After using the bat castle as a release site for the last 5 years, bats are finally finding their way back and should soon be colonizing the bat castle! For those new to our mission, we built the Bat World bat castle in 2013 for the bats in nearby downtown Mineral Wells, Texas, where tens of thousands have been occupying the older buildings for at least the past 60 years. We knew that the downtown area would eventually be renovated leaving the bats no place to go, so we built the bat castle to provide safe habitat for them. The bat castle is predator proof and capable of holding up to 100,000 bats.
Two years ago we mounted bat houses on the side of the bat castle in hopes of enticing bats to the castle. One of the entrances into the castle is immediately beside the bat house. Just yesterday we discovered one of the bat houses being occupied. Note the sprinkles of guano (poop) on the predator guard immediately below one of the bat houses – this means it won’t be too much longer before they move in to the bat castle. We have never been so happy to see bat poop!
INTRODUCING BAT WORLD BULGARIA
We are so proud to be adding Vyara Kpywkoba to our team of international Bat World rescue centers with the creation of Bat World Bulgaria! Vyara does fantastic work for the bats in her part of the world. Please join her Facebook page and take a look at her fantastic photos, including the photo of the emaciated bat below, who was transformed by Vyara in 10 days.
PLEASE NEVER USE GLUE TRAPS
Thankfully, this bat lived, but he spent over 24 hours with both wings, one foot, and the top of his head, including both ears, firmly glued down. In his futile attempts to escape, his little face became so stretched out that he could no longer close his mouth, which had become filled with glue during his struggle.
In this photo he is covered in vegetable oil, which is what it takes to remove animals trapped in glue traps. Thankfully, he is uninjured but exhausted, emaciated and dehydrated. With luck and the fantastic supportive care he is receiving at Bat World MidCities, he will survive and when strong enough, he will be released back to the wild.
Glue traps should be banned. These instruments of death are one of the cruelest things on the market. They catch not only mice (which is bad enough), they also catch birds, bats, lizards, frogs, toads and a host of other innocent beings. If you use glue traps of any kind PLEASE STOP. Please also spread the word so others will know the truth behind these horrible products.
SUNSHINE RESCUE CLUB
In addition to the 370+ permanent residents cared for daily at Bat World Sanctuary, we rescue hundreds of bats annually and return them back to the wild. We also support organizations both nationally and internationally that rescue bats. We track our efforts on our Rescue Log which highlights the work we’re doing across the globe. When you join the Sunshine Rescue Club you help us continue our work on behalf of bats the world over. Click here to learn more about the Sunshine Rescue Club.
To make a one-time donation to help us with our rescue efforts please click here.