Sunny is now in safety thanks to a woman
As he navigated a treetop in Sunshine West, Australia, a little bat named Sunny quickly realized something was wrong.
He’d accidentally tangled himself in some netting around the tree and was now trapped upside down. The more Sunny struggled, the more stuck he became.
Luckily, a neighbor saw the bat staring at her from where he was pinned in the tree. She called her friends at Joey and Bat Sanctuary (JABS) and, soon, help was on the way.
Rescuers from JABS secured Sunny before carefully cutting the branch where he was tangled. Once out of the tree, rescuers wrapped the confused bat in a towel and then began the slow process of untangling him from the net.
Finally free, the bat was brought to JABS, where he began his rehabilitation. At first, the bat was scared to be in a new place, but eventually he settled in.
“He so desperately wanted his colony,” Julie Malherbe, JABS owner and operator, said. “He called out often and tried hard to get out of the cage — not even tempting sweet fruit helped. He slept most of his second day. Day three, we put him in with the other bats and he settled quickly seeing others of his kind.”
After he’d calmed down, rescuers were pleased to notice the bat’s true personality on full display.
“Once Sunny settled, he was the most cheeky and forward bat,” Malherbe said. “He was first to the food bowls and would tell the others off if they came near.”
When he fully recovered, the bat was released back into the wild. Rescuers opened his carrier, and the bat happily soared into the open air.
To prevent instances like this in the future, JABS encourages gardeners to use wildlife-friendly netting. If everyone does their part, little bats like Sunny will never have to worry about getting stuck again.
