Bat Rehabilitation

What Is Bat Rehabilitation?

When a bat gets injured, we help them get back to the wild with expert care from our certified wildlife rehabilitators, interns, and volunteers. Each bat’s rehab journey is unique, but usually follows the same process: Intake, Critical Care, Observation, Re-wilding, and finally, Release!

Austin Bat Refuge is the alternative to euthanasia for bats. We work with several other organizations who may not otherwise have the time, bandwidth, or specialized knowledge to care for bats. Please consider supporting bats in need with a donation!

Intake

Transport and Triage

The first step begins with you. All of the bats in our care come from people in our community who have found an injured bat in their yard, home, or while they’re out enjoying nature.

When we get a bat call we coordinate drop-off at the refuge, or send one of our volunteers to safely transport the bat. Once it arrives, our Certified Wildlife Rehabilitators assess it for injuries.

Most Common Intakes:

• Concussions
• Broken or torn wings
• Internal bleeding
• Dehydration
• Orphaned bat pups

Once stabilized and given fluids, each bat receives a name, an individual mesh habitat, and a place in our bat studio.

Critical Care

Veterinary Procedures and Monitoring

During the critical care period, we act quickly to address injury and pain management and monitor closely for signs of distress or other illness. While many bats simply need to be fed, rehydrated, and sent back on their way, many need more in-depth care.

Because of the wide range of injuries we see, critical care is highly complicated and unique to each bat. Bats with broken wings, wounds, or internal bleeding may need surgeries, medicine and pain management. Bats with concussions need to be monitored for neurological issues.

Neonatal orphans need to stay in an incubator for several weeks while being fed formula every two hours, day and night. Most bats move through the critical care period within weeks, however some bats may take months to recover due to complications.

Observation

Recovery and Strengthening

Once bats have advanced through Critical Care, our staff and volunteers work on helping them regain their strength. Each day, they are hand-fed a nutritious mixture of mealworms and vitamin powder.

During feeding, they get time outside of their recovery enclosure where we check their overall demeanor, wing health, hydration, and wound healing. Some bats begin to show complications during this time, and move back into Critical Care.

When we’re confident that they’re eating well and healing well, we begin giving them monitored time for free flight in our spacious flight enclosure, so they can begin climbing and stretching their wings.

Photo: Amanda Stronza, ABR Volunteer

Re-wilding

Skill-Testing & Release Prep

When bats have regained their strength, we move them from their individual recovery enclosure and place them in the flight enclosure with other bats where they have free range of the space day and night.

Inside the flight enclosure, we have several areas that mimic each species’ natural habitat. We grow organic pest-attracting plants and vegetables so they can catch bugs at night, and set up long water troughs for swooping down to drink water as they would in the wild.

At the height of the season, we can have over 70 bats in the flight enclosure at one time. We tag each bat with a small, removable wristband, or mark their ear with a unique temporary color so we can track individual progress.

We test each bat’s flying ability, looking for speed, stamina, ability to maneuver around obstacles, height, landing, and takeoff. When we feel confident that a bat is strong enough to survive in the wild again, we prep for release!

Contact Us

We are so happy you are interested in the welfare of our local bats! Please contact us if you have any questions or need any further resources.