Let's talk about bats, bab-y.

[eohartman]

Woah. I just got invited to speak in front of a class full of veterinarians on bats! We need more vets to become wildlife-friendly in GA, and this one day a week, 10 week long class is designed to make vets and vet techs more familiar with handling wildlife and doing triage on them so they'll be more willing to help us wildlife rehabbers. Most vets shy away from bats (there's a huge liability if you have a rabies vector species in your vet clinic), but hopefully some will learn something out of my talk and be more comfortable handling bats and doing general triage on them.

I can't believe I just agreed to speak in front of veterinarians! The class is three hours long, but I definitly won't be speaking for that long. I'm supposed to give general facts and information about bats, talk about RVS licensing in Georgia, then discuss handling, feeding, and housing for them. And show them a bat. :-) I'm so excited, and nervous! I'll be talking to vets like I know more than they do. lol

Comments

[lizzie.livejournal.com]

Back when my brothers and I were little, my mom stayed home with us all day and didn't have a job. She heard about a program at Zoo Atlanta for "bat moms", and she decided it would be a good thing to do. So she went to a bat class at the zoo taught by Sue Barnard, and my mom became a bat mom. She helped rescue orphaned bats every summer and raise them. Mom did this until I was probably 8 or so, then she got a full-time job and didn't have the time anymore. Six years later, I decided I wanted to do bat rehab myself- my mom had done it, and I had grown up around baby bats and I felt a strong connection to helping animals. So I started taking in orphaned bats myself. A year later, I got my pre-exposure rabies shots and I lied about my age to the Department of Natural Resources and got legally certified to rehab bats (you have to be 18, and I was only 15). Since then I've been raising orphaned bats and rehabbing injured ones. I've also taken on other wild animals, like bunnies, squirrels, possums, raccoons, and even a fox and armadillo (I was just babysitting those for another rehabber, though), but my main love is still bats. I'm one of three people in Georgia who rehabs bats, so the demand is pretty high. :-) Occasionally I'll mention Sue in my lj- she's the woman who first introduced my mom to bats, and has now become my bat mentor and good friend. As I've grown older, my conversations with Sue have gotten longer- now we'll spend a few hours on the phone talking. Unfortunately, she's got terminal cancer, and that occasionally depresses me.

So that's the shortened version of the story! :-) I should dig up some pictures of me from when I was young and had a bat on my shirt. It shows I've loved them ever since I was little!

[charshark.livejournal.com]

That's an interesting story. I'm glad you get to do something that brings you a lot of joy and something that helps animals out. I'm sorry to hear about Sue's health, though.

And yes, you should do some picture digging!