2023 Annual Report - Flipbook - Page 9
Amanda Lollar
Amanda Lollar
Sta昀昀 giving care to injured bats.
A few of the 38 bats who were deceased on
arrival. Of these, one was an albino. A baby
can also be seen in the bo琀琀om center.
Several bats were injured due to the
wire mesh in the cage; this included
broken wing 昀椀ngers and abraded toes
and thumbs. All of these bats received
an}bio}cs and pain medica}on un}l
they were healed.
Sadly, 38 bats needlessly died during
transport and 23 died over the next
two days, with an addi}onal 7 fetuses
aborted. We believe the adults who
died were the pregnant bats who
aborted and then failed to pass the placenta, which can cause sepsis very
quickly in an animal with such a high
metabolism.
The surviving 257 bats stabilized over
the next few weeks. They are now
roos}ng normally and are no longer
landing on caregivers who enter the
enclosure, fran}cally looking for food.
They have gained weight and seem to
realize that they will no longer have to
昀椀ght each other for the basic food they
need to survive. The bats who were
pregnant were separated in a smaller
昀氀ight enclosure un}l their babies were
born. Thankfully, no males were born
to the mothers and they soon joined
their roostmates in the larger 昀氀ight
area.
Although the number of bats we received from the zoo seems large, we
are fortunate in having the room to
accommodate them due to their small
size. Addi}onally, we are s}ll working
with the zoo to 昀椀nd homes for the remaining 300 bats and if needed, we are
open to taking more of them aver the
appropriate amount of }me has passed
to allow the females who delayed fer}liza}on, to birth their pups. The zoo
has agreed to work with outside transporters so the bats can be safely and
humanely transported to bona昀椀de bat
rescue centers in the future, via a bat
care professional. One of these rescue
centers, Pennsylvania Bat Rescue, has
agreed to take 100 of these individuals.
PA Bat Rescue has graciously o昀昀ered to
serve as a future rescue center to receive fruit bats rescued from the cruel,
exo}c pet trade in the Northeast. The
larger fruit bats will be transferred to
us on a case-by-case basis. On North
Texas Giving Day, we raised $25,000 to
go toward a fruit bat enclosure at PA
Bat Rescue that will be constructed to
BWS speci昀椀ca}ons (see page 46).
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