Important Issues and Rabies

IMPORTANT: The medical care of bats requires a lot of experience. Often severely injured animals can recover.  If you have no experience with bats, please bring the bat immedately to the next bat-expert. Never try to take care of a bat yourself. To care for bats needs much experience and special facilities you don't have. 

Please note that the natural defense behavior of bats, especially when the animals are in pain, can easily be confused with rabies symptoms.

For all medical questions about the bats, please contact directly Bat World Sanctuary

Some bat guards advise by phone to simply leave the found animals alone or to put them on the next tree. If the animal had not flown away the next day, the bat would be examined by the expert. This advice is given often, but unfortunately is absolutely wrong and for the bats it can be deadly! With almost certainty, the animal will not be there the next day. Either it was eaten by a predator, or it crawled away, or it flew off with its last strength, but how far will it come? The chance of surviving for the animal is low.

Bats that are found on the ground or hang open in daylight during the day, are always in need and require an inspection by a bat expert! Whether the expert comes to the found animal, or the found animal is brought to him, is not relevant, important is the personal inspection.

If you get the advice to hang the animal or to put it on the next tree, please talk to other bat experts until you have reached someone who will personally look at the animal. 

We recommend the book "The Rehabilitation and Captive Care of Insectivorous Bats" by Amanda Lollar. Here you can order the book.  

For medical treatment information about bats please contact Bat World Sanctuary.