Bat Rehabilitators Find Rewards In The Small Mammals

SAPULPA, Okla. (AP) _ Every evening at dusk, Beverly Wallace walks across her yard and makes the ``leaves'' come alive. <br/><br/>``Where's mama's babies?'' she calls. <br/><br/>That's

Sunday, August 20th 2006, 3:12 pm

By: News On 6

SAPULPA, Okla. (AP) _ Every evening at dusk, Beverly Wallace walks across her yard and makes the ``leaves'' come alive.

``Where's mama's babies?'' she calls.

That's when some of the critters she has nursed back to health rouse from their perches in the oak, pecan and elm trees on her rural acreage, where they hang upside down by one foot.

``They look like dead leaves,'' she said.

Before they get mature and aloof, the young red bats recognize and react to her voice. They take to the air, circling above her to begin harvesting a dinner of bugs on the wing, says Wallace, 62, ``the bat lady'' to those who know her.

``Those babies come flying over. They swoop down,'' she said. ``They're like, 'Hey, Mom, look what we can do.'''

Wallace is one of Oklahoma's few bat rehabilitators, volunteers who take abandoned, injured and immature bats, help them recover and mature, then release those that can survive back into the wild. Those that can't fly and feed themselves often are raised as educational aids.

Bats needing rehabilitation are found on lawns, in attics and on eaves of homes, on rafters of abandoned buildings, under ceiling tiles or on outside walls of businesses, rehabilitators say.

``People find them all over the place,'' Carol Bunyard said. The Norman woman, a special education teacher at a prison in Lexington, became interested in bats because of her work with the Wildcare Foundation, an organization that provides health care for all wild animals.

Marilyn Murphy went bats 15 years ago. That's when a resident who ``excluded'' some baby bats from a home where they were roosting felt guilty and brought the creatures to the Tulsa Zoo, where Murphy was a docent. Murphy took the bats to Bat World, a Mineral Wells, Texas, center for bat rehabbing and for training people to help bats. Now considered the dean of Oklahoma rehabbers, she's been handling bats since.

``I didn't really pick them,'' she said. ``They picked me.''

Many of the bats that rehabilitators see have been injured in attacks by dogs, cats, blue jays or crows. Some are just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Some get blown out of trees. Some are adults who have fallen to the ground, exhausted by the weight of pups, what young bats are called, hanging on for a ride.

``Sometimes the mothers will just be drained,'' Bunyard said.

Bats are amazing, delicate and graceful but misunderstood animals, bat fans say. Sure, three species of vampire bats found in Central and South America drink blood. But at about the size of your thumb, they're more mosquito than Dracula. Even in a full moon, bats don't morph into bloodthirsty demons with thick accents.

Most either munch fruit or, in this part of the country, insects. The only mammal that achieves sustained flight under its own power, bats use sophisticated sonar to track, analyze and capture bugs in the dark in mid-flight. Unless you're a mosquito fan, bats are good to have around. Each night, a bat can consume half its weight in bugs.

Mosquitoes led Wallace to her web-winged ``babies.'' Wanting to rid her property of the biting bugs that besieged her, she didn't want to use pesticides. So, she looked into bats. And she fell hard.

``I love the bats. I absolutely love the bats,'' she said. Wallace also loves talking with the many groups of children who visit her bat sanctuary.

As a precaution against the rare incidence of rabies in bats, Wallace, who has been vaccinated against the disease, doesn't allow others to touch the bats.

Wallace's husband, Weldon, a maintenance supervisor and electrician, outfitted Wallace's ``Bat-Mobile,'' the cargo section of an old milk truck. She used it for three years as a makeshift infirmary and dormitory for bats of misfortune that were fortunate enough to be rescued.

Two years ago, Wallace moved to a larger, 200-square-foot insulated metal building next to the Bat-Mobile. Inside on one wall of this ``Bats Landing'' are stacks of ``reptariums,'' cages lined with soft walls and towels, perfect hangouts for the red, big brown, little brown and evening bats Wallace usually handles.

Walls are covered with bat-feeding charts, a certificate from ``Bat Boot Camp'' training at Bat World, bat cutouts, bat toys, bat everything. On a table are syringes with tiny curved plastic tubes, tweezers, slivers of sponge and magnifying glasses to see the tiny mouths of bats _ a cafeteria for feeding patients milk, mealworms and mealworm paste Wallace makes in a blender.

For most new patients low on fluids, Wallace administers lactated ringer's solution under the skin. She provides other treatments for upset stomach, bloat or intestinal problems. Craft sticks serve as tiny splints. She cleans bats with sponges and brushes their fur with a tiny Interdental brush.

Sometimes, Wallace takes her guests across the lawn to a small gazebo covered with soft screening so they can get some open-air flight time with little danger of injuring themselves. But she hopes to soon have a large open-air, soft-screened ``flight barn'' connected to Bats Landing.

When they're ready, bats that can fend for themselves will leave Bats Landing, some joining a colony about a mile away. A few will head for nearby perches.

And every day at dusk, the trees and the bat lady's spirit will come alive.