He saved a life ❤️
Recently, an employee at Northern Midlands Irrigation Scheme in Tasmania, Australia, walked into his site office and noticed something unusual on the wall. Hanging from an informational poster was a tiny ball of fuzz.
The employee, who also volunteers with wildlife, quickly realized the little animal was a forest bat.
Because he didn’t want to disturb the bat unnecessarily, he decided to watch him for a few days. He hoped the bat would eventually wake up and fly away on his own. But after three days, the bat still hadn’t moved.
At that point, the worker contacted Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary for help. The sanctuary sent wildlife rescuer Tracey Bagger, of Tracey’s Micro Management, to check on the tiny visitor.
Bagger safely removed the bat from the poster and later named him Bob. When she first picked him up, Bob made a sleepy attempt to look intimidating by showing his teeth, but he quickly settled down once he was safely in her care.
Bob had been in torpor, a state bats use to conserve energy. It is similar to a deep sleep and helps them survive colder periods when food is harder to find. Usually, bats enter torpor in a safe roost, but sometimes they settle in less suitable places, like Bob had done on the office poster.
When a bat is found out in the open during the day or on the ground, rescuers often need to assess them to make sure they are healthy and not injured.
Bagger checked Bob carefully for injuries and gave him fluids over three days to make sure he was properly hydrated. Once he was stable, she began flight testing him to see whether he was strong enough to return to the wild.
Finally, Bob was ready.
Bagger released him back into the night sky, and he immediately began flying beautifully. To her delight, he even started swooping around and chasing insects right after release.
After spending days asleep on an office poster, Bob was finally back where he belonged — flying freely through the night.