Recently, a woman named Jeanine spotted what looked like a brown leaf on a busy sidewalk in New York state. As she looked closer, she realized the “leaf” was actually an eastern red bat.
Normally, eastern red bats use their leaf-like appearance as camouflage to avoid predators. But because this bat was on the sidewalk, she could have easily gotten stepped on by someone who didn’t see her.
“[Eastern red bats] are supposed to blend in with leaves, so when it lands in a tree, it just looks like another leaf,” Kristin St. Clair, director of bat care at Cottontail Cottage Wildlife Rehab, told The Dodo.
Jeanine knew it wasn’t normal for a bat to be lying on the ground, so she decided to call Cottontail Cottage Wildlife Rehab for help. Based on Jeanine’s
description of the bat’s condition, St. Clair concluded that the little animal must have flown into a window and suffered a head trauma as a result.
St. Clair advised Jeanine to put on gloves and secure the bat in a box, then transport her to the wildlife rehab facility. It’s important to note that if you ever come across an animal who seems like they’re in trouble, you should immediately reach out to a licensed wildlife rescuer or rehabilitator before doing anything else.
“I explained how to properly contain the bat without touching it,” St. Clair said.
When the bat arrived at Cottontail Cottage Wildlife Rehab, St. Clair administered fluids to the stunned animal. She decided to name the bat Jeanine after her rescuer.
Once Jeanine had stabilized, St. Clair treated her head trauma with anti-inflammatory medications and administered antibiotics to stave off secondary infections. St. Clair placed Jeanine in a soft butterfly enclosure with lots of fresh foliage to keep her as comfortable as possible while she received her treatments.
St. Clair was pleased to see that as the days went by, Jeanine started slowly regaining her strength. She enjoyed getting to know Jeanine’s personality, which was unusually mellow and laid-back for an eastern red bat, who are typically more jumpy.
Once Jeanine had been in St. Clair’s care for about a month, the rehabilitator decided it was time to see how she’d do in a flight enclosure. St. Clair was pleasantly surprised to see Jeanine pass her flight test with flying colors.
“She was foraging for food,” St. Clair said. “She was recognizing worms. So I knew that the head trauma was pretty much cured.”
After a few more days in the flight enclosure, St. Clair knew Jeanine was ready to be released into a nearby nature preserve. As soon as St. Clair let Jeanine go, the little bat flew away confidently into the night.
“She just gave us an epic release,” St. Clair said. “She flew back around, then she looped up over our heads. It was amazing.”
