Earlier this week, a resident of Victoria, Australia, named Jason was awoken in the morning by frantic barking. Little could he have guessed as to why.
“My dog was going absolutely ballistic outside, and I couldn’t get her to come in,” Jason told The Dodo. “So I went outside to see what the fuss was about.”
That’s when Jason realized they had company.
“To my surprise, I found a bat hanging upside down from the dog fence with its head between the narrow bars,” Jason said. “I was definitely shocked when I first saw it. It was completely unexpected, especially at that time of the morning.”
Jason wasn’t sure how the bat, a flying fox, had come to be there, or whether his head was stuck.
“What surprised me most was how calm he seemed,” Jason said. “He
looked perfectly content hanging there. From what I could tell, he appeared healthy and didn’t seem stressed.”
Just to be safe, Jason decided to call rescuers from Fly By Night Bat Clinic. And soon they were on the scene to assist.
“It turned out that the bat wasn’t actually wedged in the fence at all,” Jason said. “[The rescuer] was able to gently remove him with ease and then cradled him against her chest like a baby, which was adorable.”
They’re no strangers to handling little bats in need of help.
The bat, believed to be a juvenile, was taken in for safekeeping. But, with any luck, he’ll soon be released back into the wild, like this other recent rescue at Fly By Night Bat Clinic:
For Jason, it was a morning he won’t soon forget.
“It’s not the sort of thing you expect to find in your backyard before work,” he said. “It was a really unique experience, and I was glad the little guy ended up in good hands. It certainly gave me plenty to talk about at work for the rest of the day!”
