Dear Bat World Supporter,
GOALS FOR 2024
We’d like to wish a very Happy New Year to all of our wonderful supporters! As 2023 comes to a close, we look back on what we’ve accomplished, and extend our heartfelt gratitude to all of you who have allowed us to continue our rescue work. We are extremely excited to begin 2024, and to announce a few projects we’ve been working on that will hopefully save wild bat colonies in Texas as well as captive bats across the United States. Beginning late last year, we began communications with the USDA in regards to improving the standards for bats on public display. This includes improving enrichment, enclosure standards, diet requirements, and transportation protocol. In 2024, we are also focusing heavily on implementing change within Texas law regarding the slaughter of bat colonies, particular during nursery season when helpless young are present. Currently, bat colonies are permitted to be killed indiscriminately when found in human occupied buildings with no protections during maternity season. Additionally, we plan to build a classroom on Bat World Sanctuary’s property to better serve our bat rehabilitation workshops. We plan to implement public education as well, using live feeds of our bat cams and other educational material. As always, it is your support that allows us to move full steam ahead with these critical projects, and we can’t thank you enough for that. ❤️
THE FLORIDA FIVE
Early on in December we had five lovely ladies join us for retirement, all the way from Florida! These girls are variable flying foxes, and are all in their late teens. They’ve come to us from a wonderful organization that wanted to ensure they had the very best care in their final years, and they reached out to us as we are set up specifically for elderly bats. Our enclosures are designed with soft mesh, padded floors, and extra hammocks to recline and rest. When needed, older bats are moved to our “Geribatric ward” when they have trouble getting around. Since they arrived, they’ve been slowly becoming accustomed to our staff members, and we are happy to report that they are now all taking treats by hand. Although they are still settling in, we are thrilled with their progress. They are having a blast exploring every inch of our indoor/outdoor flight enclosure, and are quickly making friends with the other non-releasable fruit bats. We will have more updates on these girls over on our Facebook page, as well as Instagram!
As always, thank you for your incredible support! We could not do our job without you, and that means the world to us. 🖤