My Nonprofit Reviews

On Halloween of last year I found an injured Mexican Free tail bat in the warehouse where I work. Thanks to Bat World's copious information concerning the handling of such bats during a rescue, I was able to safely contain him.

I was unable to get him to Bat World, and as it happens, it was the worst possible timing: founder Amanda Lollar was at the hospital with her father who had just fallen ill, and her backup volunteer was similarly beset, though with an ultimately less severe malady. After some phone tag, Amanda got back to me later that night, and while clearly short of breath and just having returned from a tense and exhausting stay at her father's side, nevertheless expressed an eager willingness to take in the bat right then.

It's not a trivial thing: bats in such a condition have to be inspected, immediately treated, most often rehydrated and fed on a special regimen so as not to further tax their already overtaxed bodies. It's a lot of work, and most other people would have understandably let it wait until morning given the tragedy she'd gone through. Amanda wasn't only willing to do all this right then, but even offered to send someone to collect it right away.

That didn't work out either; I'd handed off the bat to someone I trusted who was able to drive there, and while there are secure rescue boxes outside for just these situations, he misunderstood their purpose and took the bat home where I had no idea how to reach him. He'd tried to feed and offered water to the bat, but it was terrified and refused both.

After all this time, I'm pretty sure it was in a dangerously frail state when it arrived at Bat World the next day, but the expertise of Amanda and her volunteers are such that they helped the now-christened Ichabod onward to recovery anyway. Sadly, his wrist was injured to the point that he could never fly again, so he has a home at Bat World now with other little bats who've been permanently grounded as well, so his injury won't keep him from being around friends.

And in addition to all this, they had the consideration to keep me well in the loop as to Ichabod's progress, as I'd never been in a position to rescue an animal before and found myself shocked at how emotionally invested in a little bat's well-being I had become. Amanda's first book was about a similar experience, she recognized it in me and was very understanding. It was a pivotal moment in how I looked at the world and my place in it, and they just knew it.

In the end, that's all there is to say; the people at Bat World Sanctuary just Get It.

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