2023 Annual Report - Flipbook - Page 6
Your contribu琀椀ons enabled us to save 2,074 orphaned, injured and displaced bats in the
U.S., as well as Bulgaria, Italy, Austria, Japan, Africa, Thailand, Jordan, the UAE, the UK,
Canada, Cambodia, Brazil and the Caribbean Islands. Although a few of these bats were
not releasable, over 1,600 bats now 昀氀y free because you bought their food & medicine,
and you provided resources cri琀椀cal to our rescue e昀昀orts. The bats featured in this sec琀椀on
represent a few of the lives saved through your support. For a complete list please visit
batworld.org/rescue-log.
RESCUING HUNDREDS OF TINY FRUIT BATS
Disclaimer: We are choosing not to name the zoo listed in the ar琀椀cle. The Director who
contacted us for help came on board at this zoo well a昀琀er these problems existed, and he
is doing his best to correct the issues.
Amanda Lollar
Amanda Lollar
In February, we were
contacted by an AZA
zoo that had a large
surplus of shorttailed fruit bats (the
same species as our
own Lil Drac). Unfortunately, the former
directors of the zoo
were allowing the
bats to breed uncontrollably to the point
where there were
now thousands of
unwanted bats. Sadly, surplus animals
oven wind up in the
barbaric pet trade,
are then sold to the
A 琀椀ny, hummingbird-sized short-tailed fruit bat.
public and ul}mately
end up in a birdcage in someone9s living room. When the new Director took over,
he immediately realized that something had to be done. He began separa}ng the
males from the females as a 昀椀rst step to control the popula}on. He then set out
to 昀椀nd new homes for the females, which likely numbered 1,000 or more. Of
course, many of these females were either already pregnant or were carrying
young when they were separated. To make ma琀琀ers worse, short-tailed fruit bats
are capable of delayed fer}liza}on for up to one year.
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