At (Bat Rescue SA), animal experts regularly check on local bat colonies for signs of animals in distress. Recently, a team member named Cindy was conducting one of these routine checks when she heard a sound echoing from within a patch of flowers.
Cindy carefully combed through the thicket of nasturtiums and found the source of the noise. A baby bat named Sassy was alone on the ground, and she needed help.
“Little Sassy was cold and frightened and clinging to nasturtium stems,” Bat Rescue SA coordinator Sue Westover told The Dodo.
Aside from her cold skin and scared eyes, Sassy appeared to be in good health. Cindy looked around and spotted a pair of adult bats circling overhead. The rescuer hoped that these were Sassy’s parents searching for their baby. She placed Sassy in a tree nearby and kept an eye on her for over an hour, waiting for the bat’s family to return. Sadly, no one came.
“Sassy was getting colder, more distressed and weaker, barely able to hold on,” Westover said. “The rescuer felt the only option to save Sassy was to take her into care.”
Safe with her carer, Ann, Sassy guzzled bat formula and relaxed in her heated crib. She soon made friends with Sam, another orphaned bat around the same age. Today, Sassy continues to hit every benchmark as she prepares to return home to the wild.
“She is feeding extremely well, is learning how to do things on her own, and has bonded to her adopted brother,” Westover said. “In a few more weeks, she will start to enjoy some fruit as well as her formula.”
Eventually, Sassy will be completely weaned off her bat formula and begin dissociating from humans completely. Then she’ll be ready to fly back to the trees
Though rescuers were initially frustrated that they couldn’t reunite Sassy with her bat mother, they’re glad to have served as her adopted mother during this transformational time.
“Sassy being so healthy, active and inquisitive is a joy to watch for her human mum,” Westover said. “Watching her fly free in a few months will be the ultimate (bittersweet) joy.”