1,600 bats fell to the ground during Houston's cold snap. Here's how they were saved

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https://www.npr.org/2022/12/28/1145923340/1-600-bats-fell-to-the-ground-during-houstons-cold-snap-heres-how-they-were-save

1,600 bats fell to the ground during Houston's cold snap. Here's how they were saved

December 28, 2022 8:29 PM ET
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS



Mary Warwick, wildlife director for the Houston Humane Society, holds a Mexican free-tailed bat as it recovers from last week's freeze on Tuesday, Dec. 27 in Houston. The freezing temperatures caused the bats to go into hypothermic shock, lose their grip on their habitat and fall to the ground. Over 1500 bats were rescued from the Waugh Street Bridge and in Pearland since Friday.

Elizabeth Conley/Houston Chronicle via AP

Some 1,600 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.

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