I found a bat at university today. He was a little smaller than a ping pong ball, curled up on the sidewalk. He was between two noisy construction areas on a frequently used sidewalk...I saw him there first on my way to class, so I moved him aside. I told myself that if he was still there when my class ended, I'd take him home--and he was. I picked him up really carefully, and he didn't try to bite or run away or fly or anything, and he was shaking like a leaf. I figured he was stressed from all the noise and activity. So I carried him to my car, put him in the backseat--it has cloth seats so he could hang on--kept the radio entirely off and the windows up, and drove home. I have an hour long drive from school to home, so I think it helped him calm down and de-stress, being that it was nearly silent.

This time when I went to pick him up, he was active, alert, and he clicked at me when I touched him, and I had to use the clean end of a match to make his teeny little claws let go of the cloth without hurting him, then held him in my shirt to go inside. I wanted to look at him and make sure he wasn't injured before letting go.



He huddled like that for a while, then started climbing up my shirt. I couldn't get him to let go, but luckily he obliged me and stretched his wings out while moving, so I could see that the bones looked straight and the membrane wasn't torn.

You can see how small he is in this pic





Then we took him outside, and he climbed up to my shoulder.





And then he flew away on his own, before we could get him to grab onto a tree, and went towards the woods!

I took him with me because I figured he'd be better off someplace nice and quiet out in the country with acres and acres of woodlands around for him to get insects from. He certainly seemed more active and alert and calm; he wasn't curled into a ball and trembling, at least. I'm happy!