The Wildlife In Need Center frequently receives calls from people that found bats in their homes or buildings. Due to the threat of possible rabies transmission, these calls are always handled with extreme caution and care by our staff; whether or not the bat in question simply needs to make its way outside or needs our rehabilitators help. Besides rabies, the spread of the White-nose Syndrome disease also effects how we admit and care for our bat patients. This disease is caused by a deadly fungus which causes hibernating bats to frequently wake, depleting their energy and causing them to starve and dehydrate or die of exposure before the end of winter. The infection does not affect people or other animal species, but has a detrimental impact on cave bat populations – so much so that bats in Wisconsin have been placed on the Threatened Species list. Wildlife rehabilitators in our state must follow strict quarantine protocols to help the spread of this disease while bats are being rehabilitated.
Here at Wildlife In Need we are very thankful that we have a good relationship with staff at the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center at Wisconsin Humane Society who we transfer our bats to for more long-term rehab and overwintering.
To learn more about this disease, and how you can help our bat populations, follow this link: https://www.whitenosesyndrome.org/
Also, Wisconsin’s DNR recently put out a press release about this disease spreading in Wisconsin:
http://dnr.wi.gov/news/Weekly/Article/?id=3188
A female Silver-haired bat that was recently admitted to our Center (finishing up her breakfast of mealworms).
