2024 Annual Report - Flipbook - Page 8
Sta昀昀 spent nearly a week bouncing back and forth between answering phone
calls, handling daily animal care, and feeding and caring for new arrivals, all while
making runs around town to pick up grounded bats. In the hours between and
aver animal care, sta昀昀, interns and volunteers were all walking the downtown
area to pick up and save as many bats as they could, oven staying out well past
midnight to monitor the local urban colonies. Aver the 昀椀rst night, we were able
to narrow down which building the anicted colony resided in. As the bats
emerged aver dark, most were ending up in the street and on the sidewalks and
even in the road, where sadly, some were run over. Sta昀昀 wai}ng below would
rush out to save them, while volunteers would stop and direct tra昀케c away from
the terri昀椀ed animals.
Addison McCool
During this }me, social media reports of our e昀昀orts began circula}ng, and soon
members of the community were walking the downtown area to help us locate
bats. They would call us with the loca}on of each bat found, and a team member
would be sent over. Over the course of the week, 143 bats in total had been
found su昀昀ering from the infec}on. For them, this was only the start of a very long
journey of healing.
Wing was琀椀ng, a painful bacterial wing infec琀椀on of the wing membrane. This infec琀椀on
results in blisters, loss of wing 琀椀ssue, and leaves a bat unable to 昀氀y and forage for insects.
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