2023 Annual Report - Flipbook - Page 43
Natalie Perez
Sta昀昀 members Carrie Hall and Addison McCool, gathering bats from outside the roost as
well as removing silicone so the bats trapped inside could escape.
Big Country Wildlife Rehabilita}on
Center, Orkin of Abilene, and Bat
World Sanctuary all tried to work with
Mr. Moore, to no avail, before he
sealed the bats in, sta}ng he did not
care if they all died.
Mr. Moore agreed to let us provide a
humane exclusion (free of charge) as
well as remove the bats huddled outside their roost. We convinced him
that unsealing the roost would be in
his best interest if he did not want
more bats going into the mall stores in
their a琀琀empts to 昀椀nd a way out. Aver
driving two hours, we arrived at the
mall. It took several hours working in
extreme heat to 昀椀x the issue Mr.
Moore had created. Two of our sta昀昀
ended up with heat exhaus}on aver
being on the liv in the hot sun for
hours. Fortunately, the bat trapped in
silicone managed to escape and 昀氀y
away before we arrived. In total, 181
bats were saved. Nine were in cri}cal
condi}on and needed long-term care.
CONFESSED TO KILLING BATS
The following day, Mr. Moore collected two bats from inside of the mall,
and instead of immediately calling the
nearby Big Country Wildlife and Rehabilita}on, he instead placed the bats
into a box, then put the box in the bed
of his truck in the blistering heat. Both
bats died, due to the heat, before rescuers became aware of them. In texts
to Big Country, Mr. Moore admi琀琀ed
that the bats had died.
Unfortunately, there is no protec}on
for bats in Texas when they are in a
building occupied by people. We are
now ac}vely working to change this.
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