Found a grounded or injured bat?

Grounded bat

Sometimes bats may ground themselves in bad weather or they may just be exhausted and land on the ground.  If you find a bat on the ground or on a wall, try to contain it by:

  • Wear thick gloves and find a box with a secure lid such as a shoebox
  • Using a tea towel and gloves, lift the bat carefully into the box
  • Put a few drops of water in a jam jar lid and put it in the box so the bat has something to drink

In the evening, once it gets dark try to release the bat:

  • Make sure the weather is dry and mild and not too windy
  • Open the lid and place the box on its side
  • Don’t leave the bat unattended as there may be cats around
  • If the bat doesn’t fly after 1 hour, fill in our online query form on the website and a volunteer will be in touch to collect

Injured bat

If you find a bat and it is obviously injured i.e. your cat brought it in, there’s blood etc then it needs to go to a vet asap

  • Contain the bat as described above
  • Take to local vet immediately for treatment
  • If you don’t have transport, fill in our online query form and a volunteer or NIEA might be able to help transport the bat

Pups

Female bats give birth to their pup around June each year, so from June – August we are very busy working to reunite pups with their mums at the roost and hand rearing orphaned pups.  If you find a bat with no fur or a velvet texture then this is a pup and it needs to be contained and brought to safety immediately using the containment method described above. Keep the box somewhere warm (not a hot press) and if you have a hot water bottle, wrap a towel around it and put it under the box. Seek advice from our experienced volunteers who will try to get the pup back to its roost.

To avoid CATastrophies this summer:

60% of our bat rescues are the result of a cat attack, so if you own a cat please help us to protect bats by:

  • Keeping your cat in at night
  • If this isn’t possible, then only let the cat out at least 1 hour after sunset to give bats plenty of time to emerge from their roost safely. Bring the cat in again before bedtime.