Wednesday, December 22, 2021

Caring for the Oldest Bat in Captivity



From the moment you see this bat "flying" while a caretaker holds him aloft, you have to love Statler. He is a 33-year-old one-eyed Indian flying fox, believed to be the world's oldest bat in captivity. The odds of a bat living that long in the wild are pretty small. But after a lifetime of shuffling from zoos to menageries to other institutions, Statler is now getting the best care possible in his retirement at Bat World Sanctuary in Texas. They have a "geribatric" ward, in which the bats can hang from their feet if they want, but there are hammocks slung underneath them in case they get tired and fall. Taking care of elderly animals is a science, and these folks are putting in the effort to give Statler and other older bats a good retirement. (via Fark)



1 comment:

WilliamRocket said...

It is easy for people like me, living way across the globe, thousands of kilometres from the U.S.A., to form an opinion of the people that live there.
We hear about Trump and his minions trying to usurp democracy, Walmart and it's fat people riding electric scooters, Florida and it's loonies wrestling with alligators and insanity... and of course BANG, BANG, LOAD 'EM UP AND SHOOT 'EM AGAIN ! everybody has a gun and wants to kill anyone of a different race, face or place.
So it is SO nice to see people I can identify with, people helping animals, people giving effort to help living, feeling creatures in need.
Imagine the world if we all had the inbuilt desire to help animals, you know, home rescue puppies, give a few bucks to people such as them in the video, and use our guns to kill people that run rodeos.
The world would be a better place, for me, and you ... Ooh, I feel a song ....