We haven’t had a student bring in a bat in about three years, but this week, we got another bat. Evidently, it was sleeping near a garage door, and when the garage door was opened, the bat fell to the ground. The students and their dad ran and got it, then put it in a box. When it arrived at school, we all thought it might be dead.
We all looked at it during morning “science” time. They really are darling, cute little things, except for those gross claws on the ends of their elbow-things. The German word for them is “fledermaus”, which means “flying mouse”. It was still alive, so we put it in a safer container with a lid and lots of holes on the top, and put him, or her, in a dark place to recuperate.
That evening we remembered that that we’d forgotten poor Mr. Bat at school. Being compassionate, our family all piled in the van and drove back to get him. He was doing very well. He liked the little drink of water we gave him and even looked a little mad. He was ready to get out of there. We tried to get a good picture of him (which we didn’t, obviously), and then let him go. It was amazing how quickly his sonar worked. As soon as the lid was off, he took off into the dark night.
Good-bye Mr. Bat.
Enjoy Rosebud.
Stay away from garage doors.