Hit by the terrible cold snap in the United States, nearly 700 bats returned to their habitat this Wednesday in Houston (Texas).
The small mammals spent six days in the warm, in intensive care for some who were in bad shape.
These bats of the "Brazilian Molosser" species were released under a bridge in the Texas city by the NGO Humane Society.
On December 22, freezing and unusual temperatures for the region had caused a "hypothermic shock" in their colony: unable to stay hanging under the bridge, the animals had fallen from 5 to 10 m high, according to the association.
Hundreds of more bats returned to their colony at the Pearland Fite Road Bridge late this evening.
These poor babies were rescued from the ground minutes away from freezing to death last week.
They have been in great hands with our Wildlife team TWRC pic.twitter.com/RBcnBN7iu4
— Houston Humane (@HoustonHumane) December 29, 2022
Access to this content has been blocked to respect your choice of consent
By clicking on "
I ACCEPT
", you accept the deposit of cookies by external services and will thus have access to the content of our partners
I ACCEPT
And to better remunerate 20 Minutes, do not hesitate to accept all cookies, even for one day only, via our "I accept for today" button in the banner below.
More information on the Cookie Management Policy page.
Installed in a shelter and in an attic
10 to 12 cm long and weighing 13 g on average, they "are tiny, have little body fat and cannot survive long when lying on the ground exposed to freezing temperatures", explained Humane Society on social networks.
Volunteers collected them.
More than 1,500 bats were collected over the weekend.
A rescue worthy of Batman.
Frigid temperatures in Houston, Texas, caused a colony of bats under a bridge to go into hypothermic shock - causing them to lose their grip and fall to the ground.
The Houston Humane Society came to the rescuehttps://t.co/aHac5LKfYw pic.twitter.com/G2NqCW5xae
— AFP News Agency (@AFP) December 29, 2022
Access to this content has been blocked to respect your choice of consent
By clicking on "
I ACCEPT
", you accept the deposit of cookies by external services and will thus have access to the content of our partners
I ACCEPT
And to better remunerate 20 Minutes, do not hesitate to accept all cookies, even for one day only, via our "I accept for today" button in the banner below.
More information on the Cookie Management Policy page.
They were placed in a shelter or in the attic of the director of the NGO, Mary Warwick.
Most just needed warmth and hydration, but those most affected were placed in incubators and fed intravenously.
The vast majority survived.
The return of milder temperatures – 22°C this Wednesday evening in Houston – made it possible to release a first group at dusk, the time of their flight for a night hunt for the insect.
The others will soon be released under the same conditions.
Did you see ?
Avian flu survivor, TikTok star emu is back on the social network
Did you see ?
United States: The authorities allow a little girl to own… a unicorn
Bat
Texas
Cold
UNITED STATES
Animals
Rescue
Planet