Here at South Lancashire Bat Group we have a network of carers which are ready and waiting to care for sick and injured bats…please be aware that we are all busy volunteers.

What shall I do if I find an injured/grounded bat?

Please contact us immediately : Batline  0161 764 8850 – please do not use any other methods of contact for injured and grounded bats.
When you call this number you will be asked to leave your name, contact number and a brief description of the reason for you call. Please leave a message so we can return your call – without this we’re unable to help.

The Batline is covered by a team of very dedicated, trained volunteers who operate an answer phone service 7 days a week, every day of the year. The voicemail 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 aim to call you back as soon as possible (usually within a few hours) in order to give advice and arrange care for the bat where needed.

When you have left a message with us, and you are in our area marked on our map – (see link below) there is no need to try anywhere else, we will return your call and the bat will be fine if left alone for a few hours, even 24 hours. Please do not take the bat anywhere else.

If the bat does not survive before we can get it into our care, it would have already been in a position where any action we could take to help it, would not have been successful.

Outside of the South Lancashire area…

You can see the area we cover at https://www.slbg.org.uk/?page_id=261

If you are not within the marked area but have come across our page then please contact the Bat Conservation Trust on 0345 1300 228 who will be able to provide you information on carers that are closer to you.

What to do whilst you are waiting for a carer…

• Firstly contain the bat. 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). You can scoop the bat up in a soft cloth or similar whilst wearing gloves.

*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.

• Handle the bat as little as possible to avoid distressing the animal more than necessary.
• 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, and it can be detrimental to the animal – remember bats can hibernate so they can manage a long time without food.
• 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.