Current:Home > ScamsFastexy Exchange|1,600 bats fell to the ground during Houston's cold snap. Here's how they were saved -ApexWealth
Fastexy Exchange|1,600 bats fell to the ground during Houston's cold snap. Here's how they were saved
Ethermac Exchange View
Date:2025-04-08 01:12:37
Some 1,Fastexy Exchange600 bats found a temporary home this week in the attic of a Houston Humane Society director, but it wasn't because they made it their roost.
It was a temporary recovery space for the flying mammals after they lost their grip and plunged to the pavement after going into hypothermic shock during the city's recent cold snap.
On Wednesday, over 1,500 will be released back to their habitats — two Houston-area bridges — after wildlife rescuers scooped them up and saved them by administering fluids and keeping them warm in incubators.
Mary Warwick, the wildlife director at the Houston Humane Society, said she was out doing holiday shopping when the freezing winds reminded her that she hadn't heard how the bats were doing in the unusually cold temperatures for the region. So she drove to the bridge where over 100 bats looked to be dead as they lay frozen on the ground.
But during her 40-minute drive home, Warwick said they began to come back to life, chirping and moving around in a box where she collected them and placed them on her heated passenger seat for warmth. She put the bats in incubators and returned to the bridge twice a day to collect more.
Two days later, she got a call about more than 900 bats rescued from a bridge in nearby Pearland, Texas. On the third and fourth day, more people showed up to rescue bats from the Waugh Bridge in Houston, and a coordinated transportation effort was set up to get the bats to Warwick.
Warwick said each of the bats were warmed in an incubator until their body temperature rose and then hydrated through fluids administered to them under their skin.
After reaching out to other bat rehabilitators, Warwick said it was too many for any one person to feed and care for and the society's current facilities did not have the necessary space, so they put them in her attic where they were separated by colony in dog kennels and able to reach a state of hibernation that did not require them 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.
Now, nearly 700 bats are scheduled to be set back in the wild Wednesday at the Waugh Bridge and about 850 at the bridge in Pearland as temperatures in the region are warming. She said over 100 bats died due to the cold, some because the fall itself — ranging 15-30 feet — from the bridges killed them; 56 are recovering at the Bat World sanctuary; and 20 will stay with Warwick a bit longer.
The humane society is now working to raise money for facility upgrades that would include a bat room, Warwick added. Next month, Warwick — the only person who rehabilitates bats in Houston — said the society's entire animal rehabilitation team will be vaccinated against rabies and trained in bat rehabilitation as they prepare to move into a larger facility with a dedicated bat room.
"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."
Houston reached unusually frigid temperatures last week as an Arctic blast pushed across much of the country. Blizzard conditions from that same storm system are blamed for more than 30 deaths in the Buffalo, New York-area.
veryGood! (62782)
Related
- McKinsey to pay $650 million after advising opioid maker on how to 'turbocharge' sales
- TikToker Caleb Graves, 35, Shared Haunting Video Before Dying at Disney Half-Marathon
- Prosecutors charge Milwaukee man with shooting at officers
- Bowl projections: College Football Playoff gets another shakeup after Week 2
- Nearly half of US teens are online ‘constantly,’ Pew report finds
- 'The Daily Show’ live debate episode with Jon Stewart: Start time, where to watch and stream
- Adopted. Abused. Abandoned. How a Michigan boy's parents left him in Jamaica
- Pharrell as a Lego and Robbie Williams as a chimp? Music biopics get creative
- In ‘Nickel Boys,’ striving for a new way to see
- Apple announces new iPhone 16: What to know about the new models, colors and release date
Ranking
- South Korea's acting president moves to reassure allies, calm markets after Yoon impeachment
- America's Got Talent‘s Grace VanderWaal Risks Wardrobe Malfunction in Backless Look at TIFF
- South Carolina, UConn celebrate NCAA championships at White House with President Biden
- Anxiety high as school resumes for some in Georgia district where fatal shooting occurred
- Could Bill Belichick, Robert Kraft reunite? Maybe in Pro Football Hall of Fame's 2026 class
- Colorado wildlife officials capture wolf pack suspected of livestock depredation
- Video shows a SpaceX rocket launch 4-member crew for daring Polaris Dawn mission
- Taylor Swift endorses Kamala Harris for president after debate ends
Recommendation
Why members of two of EPA's influential science advisory committees were let go
Massachusetts man who played same lottery numbers for 20 years finally wins Mega Millions
What is cortisol face? TikTok keeps talking about moon face, hormones.
New bodycam video shows police interviewing Apalachee school shooting suspect, father
At site of suspected mass killings, Syrians recall horrors, hope for answers
Investigators probe Indiana plane crash that killed pilot, 82
Anxiety high as school resumes for some in Georgia district where fatal shooting occurred
Who Is Dave Grohl's Wife? Everything to Know About Jordyn Blum