2024 Annual Report - Flipbook - Page 7
Amanda Lollar
On July 25th, our team began receiving reports of stranded bats sca琀琀ered around
the nearby town of Mineral Wells, Texas. Li琀琀le did we know, the few ini}al calls
would eventually result in dozens of bats arriving daily for lifesaving care, with
sta昀昀 working around the clock to save as many as they could. In the following
week, we had over 143 Mexican free-tail bats coming through our doors, all su昀昀ering from wing was}ng, a devasta}ng and painful bacterial infec}on that destroys
wing membrane and leaves bats stranded. This bacterium is harmless to humans,
but it thrives in dark, damp spaces, such as in the a琀�cs of crawlspaces of buildings
with decaying wooden beams. This is where bats typically contract the disease.
Once the infec}on sets in, bats cannot 昀氀y. They leave the roost and end up
grounded and helpless, with only a brief window of }me in which to be saved. It
was all hands on deck to save as many bats as possible.
The 昀椀rst few calls were the normal calls expected during the summer months. A
bat trapped inside of a local pawnshop, another found grounded in a homeowners
backyard. Nothing at all unusual, especially in July when na}ve juvenile bats are
just learning how to 昀氀y. For the 昀椀rst few weeks of 昀氀ying, young bats have a tendency to be found in odd places as they learn to navigate the world for the very
昀椀rst }me. But then the calls came pouring in with grounded bats being found in
the streets and roads in the downtown area of Mineral Wells, which is home to
numerous colonies of bats.
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