2024 Annual Report - Flipbook - Page 23
It was the year of the red bats! In
2024, we had dozens of orphaned Eastern red bat pups arrive, all requiring frequent feedings, close monitoring and specialized care. They came from
many situa}ons–brought into
someone’s home by cats, found
in the middle of the street, discovered aver a tree had come
crashing down. Each one was a
unique circumstance, but they all
had one thing in common; they
had lost their mothers and needed help. Eastern red bats, unlike
most bat species in the U.S.,
roost in trees and have li琀琀ers of
Never handle bats barehanded! We are trained and pups as opposed to birthing a
single pup. Red bat mothers can
vaccinated, so some琀椀mes handle bat pups barehave up to 5 babies at one }me.
handed for be琀琀er sensi琀椀vity and control.
With so many pups to care for, it
isn’t uncommon for a pup to be dropped during a storm, or when mom is a琀琀acked
by bluejays and crows (which is, unfortunately, common). We hand-raise these
orphans un}l they are
old enough to be released, which takes 8 to
12 weeks. During this
}me, they are hand-fed a
specialized milk formula
every 4 to 6 hours and
housed in a toasty-warm
incubator.
When they are old
enough, they are transi}oned to live mealworms. This is also when
they begin 昀氀apping their
wings and a琀琀emp}ng to
昀氀y. This takes a few
weeks to master before
they are soon zooming
about the 昀氀ight enclosure and ready for
release.
Two of the over 3 dozen Eastern red bat pups that were
hand-raised and returned to the wild in 2024.
23
