By the time Elijah’s words made sense to me, my reaction was to lean out the back door and shout “DON’T TOUCH IT”. Actually, I shouted that several times. To each child. I turned down the burner on the stove and went out to the backyard. Elijah was still restraining Lucy and Samuel was getting a critter box to contain the bat. About that time Steve came home from work and the kids began telling him the emerging story. Elijah explained, “I was about to take in the laundry, when I saw Lucy. It looked like she was playing with a piece of rubber. I looked closer and figured out it was a bat! Lucy grabbed it and ran. I ran after Lucy and she accidentally dropped it and ran on. I grabbed Lucy. Then I opened the door of the house and said, ‘Mom Lucy caught a bat!’”
With the bat now contained and the cat distracted, I went back to making dinner. It was then that I overheard the second most troublesome phrase of the day –“we’re trying to decide what to name the bat”.
I don’t know how regular folks would handle such an incident in their yards. But, since we tend to be a trifle odd when it comes to animals, we proceeded in our typical style. Capture – observe – research – document – make a plan of action. Elijah went straight to work on researching the field guide to determine what kind of bat we had. His early thoughts were ‘maybe a big brown – but the ears are different’. Samuel began documenting with photographs while Caleb watched out for Lucy. And Phoebe…helped me finish making dinner. Steve found the phone number for our friend who operates Bat’s Landing Rehab Center and gave her a call. [See I told you we are odd – we have friends who rescue and rehabilitate injured bats.] When Steve phoned the wildlife expert her first response was, “don’t touch it!” So, at least we hadn’t made any mistakes so far. She also said, “Well, I guess I’m going to need to see it. Can you bring it over, or shall I come get it?” The unanimous decision was to deliver the bat ourselves. We finished our dinner and headed out.
This was my first time to travel with a bat – that I know of – and it was thrilling to be on such a spontaneous mission. We arrived at Mrs. Wallace’s house in about twenty minutes. She was outside watching for us. Her quick look at our find was met with, “Oh you’ve got a big brown – and it is a big one – this is an adult.” Mrs. Wallace asked us to come inside the main house before going out back to her office. Inside, we were surprised to see two huge aquariums with a small number of fish and crabs. There was also a short-tailed opossum named Quapaw, an African grey parrot named McCormick, and two parakeets with whom we didn’t get a full introduction. Mrs. Wallace showed the kids how she feeds her fish shrimp and they responded politely but also somewhat absently. They were really eager to show her our little bat – we all were. So she took us out through the dark yard to her custom built “Bat Barn”.
Standing sentry on the porch of the barn was a Sharpei Mrs. Wallace calls Tofu. He helps guard against other critters getting in and harming the bats. Once inside the barn, we observed the distinct atmosphere of a medical center, but with decorative touches reminiscent of a kindergarten classroom. I didn’t expect a place devoted to the care of bats to be so cheery and welcoming. There were only two bats in rehab that night. The kids got a chance to feed a tiny Pipestrelle bat his nightly meal worms while Mrs. Wallace got set up to examine our bat. She asked Samuel to open the critter box then she tenderly wrapped the bat in a folded bit of gauzy cloth diaper. That’s when she gasped, “Oh, this isn’t a big brown at all – what is this? I’ve never had one like this before – it may be endangered. Look at those large ears and the silver tufts of hair on its back.” She cautiously continued the exam and then a new announcement, “Why, it’s a girl”! At that – the little bat was immediately named Stellaluna after a bat in a favorite picture book. We watched as Mrs. Wallace carefully offered water to Stella from a thin rubber tipped syringe. Stella was mouthy and bit repeatedly at the cloth that swaddled her, so we tried feeding her a couple of meal worms. A closer look at her furry body revealed that she had a damaged wing and several puncture wounds to the shoulder. Mrs. Wallace concluded the exam with, “I’ll have to start her on antibiotics - as soon as I can get to the vet in the morning. But for tonight I’ll clean her up and tuck her into bed.”
The “bed” is actually a plastic box frame covered in tightly woven black mesh. These cages are intended for transporting lizards, but they work wonderfully for bats too. Before we left, Mrs. Wallace put Stella into one of the cages. We were all amazed to see that little broken bat scramble across the floor of the cage and up the wall. She’s a sturdy girl alright – and we sure hope she mends well.
-To be continued-
By Mary Smith © 2009
