Rescue a bat

Help bats hang on

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JOB DONE - SCROLL DOWN TO 'SUCCESS STORY' TO FIND OUT MORE

RESCUE A BAT

How do I do that?

The Bat Helpline takes about 10,000 calls a year answering people’s concerns about bats and consequently saving thousands of bats’ lives - you could pay for one of those calls.

What does it cost?

£15 will pay for a trained expert to handle a call that potentially saves a number of bats.

When will I see the difference?

Scroll down to 'Success Story' to see the difference made.

 

Tell me more...

Let’s face it, bats have an image problem. They just aren’t as cute as kittens. But what bats lack in cutesy they make up for in personality. They are amazing fliers, they eat shed loads of bugs and they’re a sign you live in a healthy green area, but most people struggle to get past the rumours about fangs and getting caught in your hair. And so all around the country bats are being bullied or evicted from their homes until there’s hardly any of the little guys left.

Bats need all the friends they can get, the Bat Helpline takes about 10,000 calls a year answering people’s concerns and saving thousands of bats’ lives.

 

Chris Packham

From Twitter:
Always going for the underdog? Want to help an animal that doesn't
feature in fuzzy photos? Join me! Save bats here...

Tweeted on 24th October

Chris Packham Chris Packham is an English naturalist, nature photographer, television presenter and author.

 

Hero Wall
Success Stories

Update: 03/11/11

Dear Claire, Lisa, Jill, Karen, Laurence, Peter, Stephen, Anne, Louise, Ms Movsovic and SH Gardiner

Thank you so much for supporting our National Bat Helpline which this year has taken over 12,800 calls. Nearly 6000 people called after finding a grounded or injured bat, 985 people called concerned about baby bats and on 26th June one volunteer took 49 emergency calls in just one shift! Here are just a few of the batty stories that you helped give a happy ending to:

GOLIATH

In July 2011 a couple in London found a tiny bat in their living room. Bea, the National Bat Care Coordinator, was on hand at the other end of the Bat Helpline to arrange for Charlotte, one of our volunteer bat carers, to pick up the tiny pup. Charlotte identified it as a Soprano Pipistrelle and whilst she ensured the newly named ‘Goliath’ had warm goats milk every hour, a search began to find its roost... Thanks to the bat monitoring team the roost was located and once an adult bat was spotted Goliath was encouraged to head towards them and before long they had both made a hasty retreat to the safety of the roost.

BROWN LONG-EARED BAT

In September 2011 a school in Harrogate called the Bat Helpline after having found a baby bat nestled between a pair of maracas and a tambourine in their music box. From the description it sounded more like a juvenile bat which, due to its inexperience and some windy weather, had probably been blown off course when heading out to hunt. Fortunately, the bat still seemed quite active so we advised that it be moved to a more suitable box and given a drink of water whilst waiting for one of our volunteer carers to pick it up. After an assessment the carer returned to the school to release the juvenile brown long-eared bat - an event that attracted a small crowd of spectators including staff, parents and pupils.

BOBBY

This summer on Jess Baker’s first weekend as a volunteer bat carer a call came in about a grounded bat in south east London. Jess packed her gloves, cloths and syringes (to offer water) and headed off to rescue the bat which turned out to be a Pipistrelle (our smallest UK bat). The family who’d found the bat had placed it in a ventilated shoe box with towel to hide in and named it ‘Bobby’. Jess took Bobby home and gave him water and some cat food gravy but after two nights he still had no interest in flying. Jess handed him over to a more experienced carer for intensive flying training and after the hibernation season we hope to release Bobby back into the wild.

A big thanks from Goliath, Bobby and all the bats that have been helped.
Heather McFarlane, Director of Marketing, Bat Conservation Trust

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Make a difference by giving time as part of our Bat Helpline team.

When bats are most active between May and September, BCT runs an out of hours helpline, where volunteers answer emergency calls from the public in the evenings and at weekends. Volunteers receive training in answering calls before the season begins, as well as full support from BCT staff throughout the season.

Here’s how it all works: At the end of the working day, a member of staff will divert the BCT phones to the home telephone of the volunteer on duty that evening.

We aim to provide out of office hours cover, but we don’t expect our volunteers to be available throughout the night. Typically, our volunteers take 5 calls over an evening, between 5.30 and 11pm. The out of hours helpline can sometimes be a challenge, but the rewards are also great. It would not be possible to run such a service without the volunteers and their help is greatly appreciated.

If you wish to volunteer and register your interest, please get in touch with Zoe Tubbs by calling 0845 1300 228, or by emailing ztubbs@bats.org.uk

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