Baby bat rescue

Bat-lover, Peggy-Anne Mist, shared the importance of preserving and nurturing baby bats in the area.

“The most common bats in the area are the little furry Cape serotine, neoromicia Capensis, followed by the bigger yellow house bat, scotophilus dinganii, and an occasional Egyptian free tail, Ttadarida Aegyptiaca,” Mist said.

Mist, who is also a Friends of Free Wildlife (FFW) volunteer, said bats are the only flying mammals, and bat mothers are just as caring and loving of their babies as other mammals.

“When the newborn baby bats fly, they are attached to their mothers and later stay in nursery groups in their nest. Weather, nest destruction or becoming detached from their mother in flight can result in a baby bat being brought in for hand-raising,” she explained.

Mist added that when a rescuer knows where the bats are settling for example, in their roof, she encouraged the rescuers to first try, at dusk, to put the baby in a place where the mother can hear her baby calling in order to collect it.

“There is initially great disbelief that this will work, but in November last year, a woman in Northcliff had an experience where a tiny baby bat had blown into her house through an open window. I advised her to put the baby in a box on the window sill at dusk. She then called me to say that she could see two adult bats hovering around, but seemed too scared to come any closer,” she expressed.

Mist then advised the woman to close the window and take the baby bat out of the box and put him on the window sill.

“The mother bat flew down immediately and there followed a touching reunion, with mother spending time licking the baby and checking that it was alright. The baby then climbed onto his mother’s bacl and off they flew, leaving the woman expressing that it was one of the most amazing things that she had ever seen,” Mist said.

She explained that newborn bats, or neonates, are bottle-fed with cat milk every two to three hours, which means that, wherever you go, the bats go too – along with heating pads, milk bottles, paper towels and bat boxes. “Babies progress to lapping milk from tiny lids and then start being weaned onto mealworms. When they can pick up a mealworm from a dish and eat it, they are ready to start flight training,” Mist said.

“Bats are a really important part of our environment because they eat insects and pollinate plants. A healthy adult Cape serotine can eat up to 2 000 insects in one night, imagine our summer nights if they were not there!” Mist concluded.

Details: www.friendsoffreewildlife.co.za