Major reasons to save bats, and two heart-melting, viral videos below the orange squiggle. Although Lil' Drac, star of the videos, is just fine, Bat World needs help to save thousands more.
Bat World Sanctuary got a grant of $25,000 to build a Bat Castle that will house bats soon to be evicted from their decades-long homes in Mineral Wells, Texas. Now that they've started construction, they find they'll need MORE MONEY (surprise, surprise) by March 20th.
I hope you'll kick in just $5 to help finish the Bat Castle, HERE. (You can kick in more if you want, but just $5 from lots o' people will help enormously.) Anything they get in excess of what they need for the Bat Castle will go to the general funding needed to care for their bats. But first . . .
. . . let's get your attention. Take a look at these two wonderful videos about how Bat World Sancturary hand-raised an orphaned baby bat.
Part One, which went viral, and did more to educate people about bats than the previous twenty years of effort by Bat World Sanctuary:
And Part Two, in which Lil' Drac learns to fly!
Right! Now that your heart is a quivering pile of goo, let's convince you to kick in five measly bucks to help Lil' Drac's bat friends.
Stuff you might not know about bats:
1. Insect-eating bats are the vacuum cleaners of the skies. Each individual bat eats between 3,000 to 7,000 insects each night. Scared of West Nile Virus or malaria? Save the bats!
2. Fruit-eating bats (like Lil' Drac) pollinate about 70 percent of the fruit you eat. Yup. Not seven, not seventeen, seventy percent. Like bananas and avocados? Save the bats!
4. Ditto for spices. Want allspice? Save the bats!
5. Like chocolate? Bats distribute the seeds.
6. Bats are mammals (the only flying mammals), and are quite intelligent and emotional. They are not "flying rats." Actually, bats are more closely related to primates (us) than to rodents, which aren't even in the same family. At Bat World Sanctuary they play with toys every night.
7. Bat mothers have only one pup a year. (Here's a heartbreaking video of a bat giving birth as she's dying from tick paralysis in Australia--I won't embed because it'll make you cry.) Mother bats nurse their babies, and can recognize their individual voices amongst thousands of other babies!
8. Bats are clean animals, and spend much time grooming their fur to keep it soft and silky. It's their guano that'll get ya dirty. That guano is a fantastic fertilizer, however!
9. Bats can live from twenty to forty years. They are the exception to the rule that smaller animals live shorter lives. (Unless they're kept as pets. Then they live about one year. Do not keep a bat as a pet.)
10. Over 95% of rainforest regrowth comes from seeds distributed by fruit bats. Like oxygen? Save the bats.
Myths:
1. Rabies. As mammals, yes, bats can get rabies. However, only about one-half of one percent of bats get rabies. If they do, they do not become aggressive, unlike other animals. They won't attack you. Don't pick up a downed bat with your bare hands and you're quite unlikely to get sick from a bat.
2. They do not attack your hair. Bats have amazing sonar capabilities and they do not want to have contact with you. If a bat is hovering just above your head, it's probably after the mosquito that's getting ready to bite your ear.
3. There are vampire bats! They are only three species (out of over 1,100 bat species) that live in Central and South America, and they drink about a teaspoon of blood from sheep and cattle, who likely don't even know they've been bitten. They are about the size of a packet of M&Ms. They do not attack humans.
About Bat World Sanctuary:
This is a non-profit, all-volunteer organization founded by Amanda Lollar after she found an injured bat and took it home to nurse it back to health. From that one experience, Amanda learned about bats. She now spends 18 hours per day, seven days a week working for the bats, for free, and says she can't imagine a better life.
All the money Bat World Sanctuary collects goes to help the bats. Nobody takes a dime of salary at Bat World. Nobody takes a dime of profit. Amanda used the space that once housed her mother's furniture store to build a hospital and two huge cages for rescued bats that can't be released (like Lil' Drac).
Bat World Sanctuary has been a leader in establishing rehabilitation methods and medical care for bats worldwide. It is the only facility ever to "successfullly maintain a reproductive colony of insectivorous bats for almost two decades," which may be the only way to save bats from White Nose Syndrome.
In short, this is an excellent, much-needed charity. Compelling proof of that fact ironically was provided by the results of complaints brought by a woman who has many years of making defamatory accusations on the internet. As a result of her accusations, the sanctuary was investigated by numerous government agencies and found to have no animal welfare violations. Instead, it was highly praised:
There is absolutely no evidence confirming any of the accusations made by the complainant. On the contrary, Ms. Lollar appears to be providng exceptional care as required under the Animal Welfare Act.
Documentation
here. (Emphasis added)
Here's the video they use on their website to illustrate who they are and (some of) what they do:
They have established Bat World Rescue Centers all across the nation.
About the Bat Castle:
Bat World Sanctuary has used older buildings in Mineral Wells, Texas for tens of thousands of roosting bats, but these buildings soon will be replaced by new development. So, Bat World is building the Bat Castle on protected land to house the refugees, and it needs to be completed by the end of March. They need the money by March 20th.
Again HERE'S THE DONATION PAGE: http://www.batworld.org/...
Please kick in $5.00--less than a price of a fancy cup of coffee!
For "the least of these."
(Lil' Drac falls asleep on his caregiver's thumb)
And yes, he still rocks.
(Disclaimer: Bat World Sanctuary has not authorized this diary. I'm doing this on my own.)
1:24 PM PT: Looks like this effort yielded from about $80 to $90! That's good, but I think I might try again in a day or two.
Thank everyone for your recs and contributions!