What should I do if I find a bat in my house, or a stranded or injured bat?
Please phone us immediately on: 0161 764 8850
Our volunteers operate an answer phone service 7 days a week, every day of the year. The answer phone is on 24 hours a day, so please phone at any time if you have an emergency – if you leave a message, we will return your call!
We will phone you back as soon as possible (usually within a few hours) in order to give advice and arrange care for the bat if needed.
In the meantime please follow this advice for stranded or injured bats:
We always recommend wearing gloves for handling any wild animal, including bats (you can also pick up the bat in a tea towel something similar instead).
Handle the bat as little as possible to avoid distressing it more than necessary. Additionally, although it is a rare occurrence, it is possible for wild mammals, including bats, to carry rabies. Wearing gloves or similar will protect you from the potential risk of rabies.
The bat should be transferred to a secure box (old shoe boxes are ideal) with small air holes (if plastic) and some sort of material to provide crevices for it to hide in, such as kitchen towel. A small container of water, like a milk-bottle top, should be filled with water and placed in the box. Bats are far more likely to die of dehydration than starvation. There is no need to try to feed the bat, we’ll arrange that when we take it in.
Don’t be too concerned if it squeaks (sometimes quite a lot) this is simply a frightened animal trying to get you to leave it alone!
The box should be placed in a warm, undisturbed environment.
Exact details of where the bat was found are required for returning the bat to the wild when fit.