Curiousity killed the bat

Photo Jude Hirstwood.

Our cat Blackthorn looking as if butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth. Do not be deceived.Photo Jude Hirstwood.

 

 

The main predator of bats is the cat. In some cases they find an already grounded bat, but they are also capable of catching bats as they come out of their roosts. We know of one case of a cat sitting on a flat garage roof waiting for the bats to emerge and jumping up  and catching them as they emerge.

 

 

 

 

 

 

They can tear nasty holes in bat’s wings You can see from the picture below how much damage they cause. Bats wings are very resilient and if taken to care the tear will heal.

.Photo by Gail Armstrong

Photo by experienced Lancashire  bat carer  Gail Armstrong

Worse is the fact that they often pass on infections to the bats when they bite them – bat’s don’t use toothpaste and their mouth is full of bacteria.

There is a very interesting paper which has recently been produced about the effect of cats on bats in Italy. . You can find it at

http://www.ecoap.unina.it/doc/staff/danilo_russo/curiosity%20killed%20the%20bat.pdf

If you find an injured bat please contact the Bat Conservation Trust 24 hour helpline on 0845 1300 228

For informaton about what to do with a grounded bat have a look at this page on our website

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