It doesn’t take much to totally de-rail an end-of-year test review, and this little guy hanging above our heads accomplished that with ease. \u00a0The girl who asked the question was already out the\u00a0door by the time I answered her question: “Um, it’s a bat.”<\/p>\n The students were (obviously) distracted by this unusual classroom visitor, and after quickly covering a few more key points in the review,\u00a0I sent everyone\u00a0to the library to use the rest of the period as a study hall. \u00a0Aside from their distraction, I was concerned that the bat might<\/em> start flying around the room, which could put both the kids and it\u00a0at risk.<\/p>\n To digress for a bit, I like<\/em> bats. \u00a0Really. \u00a0I first started learning about them in 2005 when I found a baby bat in some bushes on the side of my house. \u00a0It was still alive, but very weak, and I was completely at a loss as to what to do with it.<\/p>\n I contacted The Wildlife Center of Virginia<\/a>, and they put me in touch with a licensed wildlife rehabilitator in my area who specializes in bats. \u00a0Robin gave me some instructions over the phone, and then she came to my house that evening. \u00a0She said that I had a maternal colony of Big Brown bats living in the louvers of my attic (not IN my attic), and that the baby had fallen out of the louvers. She\u00a0took it home to care for it until it\u00a0was ready to be released.<\/p>\n In the years since then, I’ve had a number of baby bats fall from the louvers, and with Robin as backup (in addition to the classes I’ve taken through the Wildlife Center), I’m a pretty competent and safety-minded “rescuer” and “first-responder,” though\u00a0I’m still not a permitted\/licensed rehabber. My job is to keep a baby hydrated and\/or fed, and to give the mother bat a chance to retrieve her baby by putting it on a piece of mesh that is raised\u00a0up towards the louvers.<\/p>\n If the mother doesn’t claim her baby after a night or two, then Robin steps in to care for\u00a0it, releasing it when it is capable of being on its own.<\/p>\n During the Spring of 2012,\u00a0I was involved in an unbelievable number of\u00a0rescues<\/a>, and I became\u00a0increasingly\u00a0concerned about\u00a0the well-being of these little creatures which play such a vitally important\u00a0role in our\u00a0environment.<\/p>\n Between the loss of habitat and White Nose Syndrome, some areas in the northeastern United States have seen a <\/strong>decline in bat\u00a0populations of\u00a0approximately<\/strong> 80%.<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0(http:\/\/www.nwhc.usgs.gov\/disease_information\/white-nose_syndrome<\/a>\/)<\/p>\n I haven’t had a maternal colony of Big Brown bats here since 2012, and last week I checked with my neighbors across the street. \u00a0They haven’t had any at their house (roosting behind their chimney) for a few years, either….<\/p>\n Just last Friday, I asked Chris, one of our maintenance guys at school, if he had seen bats flying around the\u00a0campus, because several years ago I was involved in a rescue there:\u00a0https:\/\/art-rageous.net\/BigBrownBat-Winter2011.html<\/a>\u00a0)<\/p>\n Chris\u00a0said that he’d seen a few flying–and that he’d safely removed a couple from one of the buildings on campus recently–and I told him\u00a0about my interest in and concern for bats. \u00a0I told him to let me know if he ever found any he needed help with.<\/p>\n Well, as it turned out, Chris was the one who showed up this morning to help me with the bat\u00a0in my classroom. \u00a0It was still hanging onto the wall when he arrived, and it was still there when he returned with a ladder. \u00a0(I didn’t want to use the flash, so I brightened this image in Photoshop.)<\/p>\n It appeared to be an adult, and it didn’t move or make a sound until Chris\u00a0gently pulled it from the wall, wrapping it in\u00a0a heavy, folded-up shirt.<\/p>\n Fully alert at this point, it squeaked and protested; scared out of its wits, but doing its very best to look fearsome.<\/p>\n After I snapped these pictures, Chris placed the bat on a nearby tree and we both expected it to immediately fly away. \u00a0It didn’t.<\/p>\n Realizing that it was probably dehydrated, I went back to the art room to get some water and a clean paintbrush. \u00a0Over the years, I’ve re-hydrated–and fed–a lot of baby bats by delivering liquids to them via a paintbrush:<\/p>\n It was still on the tree when I got back with the water, but as I moved closer, it turned around, stretched its wings out, flapped a couple of times, and then flew off towards the woods. \u00a0Yay!<\/p>\n These days every<\/em> little bat in every<\/em> little colony is important, and I’m so glad that this one appeared to be okay.<\/p>\n The following article about Virginia’s bats was published in 2013, and things aren’t improving in the state or in the nation.\u00a0The risk for extinction is real<\/em>. \ud83d\ude41<\/p>\n http:\/\/www.richmond.com\/news\/virginia\/article_890ae3b7-9956-5458-a054-2e35176136c5.html<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" With the school year\u00a0finally winding down, May 23rd was a “review day” for the upcoming semester tests and exams;\u00a0graduation is on Saturday, May 28th. \u00a0During the second class of the day, I (again) started going through things the students should … Continue reading ![\"01-Bat-Miller\"](\"https:\/\/art-rageous.net\/artrageousblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/01-Bat-Miller.jpg\")
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