Thousands of Bats Fall to Ground After Hypothermic Shock Due to Unusually Cold Weather in Houston

Hundreds of bats lost their grips and plunged into the pavement under a bridge in Houston after going into hypothermic shock, Texas wildlife officials announced.

Source: Associated Press/YouTube

Around 1,600 bats were moved to an attic of a Houston Humane Society director as a temporary recovery space. The bats will be released next week into their habitats which are two Houston-area bridges.

When the bats plummeted, wildlife rescuers scooped them up and administered fluids, and kept them warm in incubators. The Inquirer reported that Mary Warwick, the wildlife director at the Houston Humane Society, was out shopping when the freezing winds reminded her that she hadn’t heard how the bats were doing in the unusually cold temperatures. That’s when she drove to the bridge where over 100 bats looked to be dead lying on the frozen ground.

Thankfully, on her drive home, Warwick said that they began to move and chirp in the box she collected them in. She put the bats in an incubator and returned to the bridge two times a day to collect more wounded bats. Two days later, she got a call about how over 900 bats were rescued from a bridge in Pearland, Texas. Volunteers helped rescue the bats, and a temporary recovery unit was set up at Warwick’s. The bats were warmed until their body temperature rose, and then they were hydrated with fluids.

They put the bats in Warwick’s attic and separated them by the colony in dog kennels, and they were able to reach a stage of hibernation, where they do not have to eat.

“As soon as I wake up in the morning I wonder: ‘How are they doing, I need to go see them,'” Warwick said.

Finally, most of the bats that are in good health will be returned to their bridges as the temperatures in the region are rising. Warwick estimated that over 100 bats died due to the cold. The Humane Society is now working to raise money to upgrade their facility to have a bat room. Warwick is the only person who rehabilitates bats in Houston and said that the society’s entire animal rehabilitation team will be vaccinated against rabies and trained in bat rehabilitation

“That would really help in these situations where we continue to see these strange weather patterns come through,” she said. “We could really use more space to rehabilitate the bats.”

Most people think that bats are terrifying, bloodthirsty animals. This misconception largely comes from fictional films featuring bats or bat-like characters, but because of these imaginary portrayals of bats, these creatures get a pretty bad rap. What most people don’t know is that bats play a crucial role in maintaining the balance of our ecosystem. These animals help to pollinate a large portion of our food supply and control mosquito populations.

Unfortunately, bat populations are dwindling due to habitat loss and the spread of a disease called white-nose syndrome. Without bats, nearly half of the fruits we enjoy wouldn’t exist, and insect populations would be out of control. Luckily, many organizations are working to help the bat population recover.

Sign this petition to save the bats!

Related Content:

• Bats Greet Each Other With Death-Metal Growls, New Study Finds
• Tricolored Bats Recommended to Be Listed as Endangered Species Due to White Nose Syndrome
• 10 Times Bats Were Scary Cute!
• White-Nose Syndrome Has Killed Millions of Northern Long-Eared Bats
• These Bats’ Cute Faces Are Not the Only Reason They’re Worth Saving

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