Build SA's 1st Free-Tailed Bat Flight Cage

The Free-tailed bat flight cage is almost finished. The building work has been completed and all that remains is a few 'cosmetics' that need to be installed and it will be ready to welcome its first bats!! All that remains to be done, is the installation of the roosts (internal bat houses for the bats to rest during the day) and a sandy floor to cushion the landing of any bats that become grounded whilst they practice flying. This is extremely important as Free-tailed bats can reach flight speeds of up to 140km/hr, crash landing at that speed into rocky ground would surely put them back in the clinic, so a soft sandy floor will help to soften the landing and prevent injury. In addition, tremnet 'windows' will be added to allow insects entry into the flight cage, this will give an opportunity for the bats to practice their on the wing hunting skills, whilst still in the safety of the flight cage, protected from predators. We are so excited to be a part of this project, it seriously is a game changer for the clinic's free-tailed bats as well as all free-tailed bats across the country.

Patient Story:

It was early winter, and Mike was only just learning to fly and hunt for himself. He was still dependant on mum for milk, but that option was coming to an end. The late season Angolan free-tailed bat pups often face going independent as winter arrives and insect numbers plummet, the pups born earlier in the season have it far easier. Like it wasn’t tough enough for Mike, he had also picked up a tummy bug and had a very serious case of diarrhoea. Just when it seemed things couldn’t get any more difficult, Mike ended up on the ground. Most bats are unable to get airborne from the ground, they need to take off from height to get flying. Mike was now stuck on the ground. Fortunately for Mike he had grounded on the floor of a hardware store and was found by a caring person.

Mike arrived at ReWild little more than a bag of bones. Emergency fluid therapy got Mike a bit more stable and ready for a drink of milk formula. Antibiotics were needed to resolve Mike’s tummy bug before he could really start feeling better and recovering. Mike has been spending the winter at ReWild regaining his normal body weight and then some, building up a buffer against possible lean times in the future. He is also, one of the many free-tailed bats waiting for the flight cage to be completed so he can begin his flight preparation in order to be released.

Links:

• ReWild Rehabilitation Centre

With thanks to all of you and LUSH Charity Pots our Free-tailed bat fligth cage is almost complete!! 

Work constructing South Africa's biggest bat rehabilitation flight cage began at the end of April! As with any build, once you start, plans that worked on paper do not always work out on the ground. A few slight changes had to be made along the way and one included increasing the size of the central block that is used to create the race track style to the cage to ensure the bats fly in a circular motion around the cage, rather than just cutting across one side to the other. The clever team at the ReWild have turned this problem into a bonus! This exclusion zone is actually now big enough to be useful, and turned into an additional flight cage for the centre to use for other species of bats. So now they will have additional flying space in a new flight cage, within a flight cage!

We are so excited to be a part of this project, it seriously is a game changer for our little free-tailed bats as well as all free-tailed bats across the country, and the fact that it will be ready before the end of the winter means that the team can start flight preparing the bats for release in spring.

Becky is a little free-tailed bat that is currently undergoing treatment and care at ReWild. She was hand raised at another facility for a couple of weeks before she joined ReWild and so the team were surprised by how thin she was when she arrived. After a few days at ReWild Becky had still gained very little weight, so obviously the team was concerned, she definitely had some issues that were stunting her growth.

The centre has received a lot less bat pups this year which indicates that there have been problems in the wild population. In addition the centre has received a higher number of bat pups with health issues including birth defects and these are more often seen when the mother bats have been exposed to toxins. Becky was another indicator that the bats are having a very tough year.

After treating Becky for possible parasites and adding some additional supplements to her diet, she started showing some improvement. She is still behind in her development for her age but she is catching up and she’s strong and full of enthusiasm. Despite her challenging start to life, Becky is full of beans and just one of the cutest little bats. As we are now in our winter months, Becky will over-winter with the team and with our flight cage due to be ready in time, she will be able to be flight prepped and released in the spring. This will give her plenty of time to catch up on growth and development.