Gizmo is an Egyptian fruit bat who was born into the cruel, exotic pet trade where fruit bats -that have a lifespan of 25 years- rarely live over a year when kept as pets. Gizmo’s mother purchased it while she was pregnant, and she had Gizmo a short while later. A few months after Gizmo was born his mother passed away, leaving him alone and living in a small wire bird cage in his captor’s living room, and there he languished for the next year, completely alone, and barely able to stretch his wings.

Lucky for Gizmo, his captor grew tired of taking care of him and wanted to unload him to recoup his money, so he contacted a friend, Gregg Maston, to see if he wanted to purchase Gizmo. Gregg went to the internet to research how to take care of fruit bats and found our page on why bats should never be kept as pets. It then became Gregg’s mission to get Gizmo out of the pet trade and to Bat World Sanctuary instead.

Gregg contacted us and we were overjoyed with his decision to give Gizmo the life he so deserved. Gregg purchased Gizmo and Bat World volunteer made the 8-hour round-trip to Austin, Texas to bring Gizmo to his forever home at Bat World Sanctuary.

Because Gizmo was an unneutered male, he had to be confined to our holding enclosure until he could be neutered. We made sure, however, that he could see and hear his new family, who were located just a few feet from his enclosure. We also made sure that Gizmo was not alone on his first night. We placed Pogo, an elderly male Egyptian fruit bat, in the holding enclosure with Gizmo. The bats were placed into a bat hut together. Gizmo had not seen another bat in over a year. When Gizmo saw Pogo he immediately buried his nose into Pogo’s fur, breathing in the scent of a familiar being for almost a full minute. The two happily snuggled together until the following morning when Gizmo was neutered.

After Gizmo was neutered, he was allowed to join his new forever family. His ear was marked green with non-toxic temporary paint so we could keep an eye on him as he settled in and healed.

When Gizmo was introduced to his new home, the resident Egyptian fruit bats immediately began sniffing Gizmo all over in order to become familiar with the newcomer. After an hour Gizmo finally found his place, completely surrounded by his new family.

Gizmo is one of the hundreds of bats we have rescued from the cruel, exotic pet trade, zoos, and research. Gizmo’s bright future is only made possible through supporters like you. Without you, Gizmo would have had no place to turn. Thank you for helping us give Gizmo the happy future he so deserves.

A special Thank you to Gregg Maston for saving Gizmo’s life.