So the other day when I was working at the campground, a woman approached me and asked “DO you have a problem with rabies here?” I didn’t think I heard her correctly, so I asked her to repeat herself. Then she told me there was a bat on the ground beside her fire pit, and she was afraid it would bite her kids. And then she asked ME if I could come and get it off her campsite. Ewwwwwww……
I went over there, and sure enough, there was this bat just laying there on the ground. It looked dead at first, but when I poked it with a stick, it raised its ugly head and bared its teeth at me. Sort of like some people I have dealt with in my life….I guess the trick to it is to not poke it with a stick. Even though “I” was not worried about this bat attacking the woman’s children, as it could barely move at all, and to attack them the children would have to poking it with a really short stick, I went and got the litter picker and picked it up, and put it on the cart we use when we are cleaning the campsites and doing rounds, and carted it away.
I never knew there were bats here, or if I did know it I had forgotten it. Seeing this one up close and personal like just reminded me how icky these little creatures are. It made me think about vampires and that made me think about True Blood, even though the vampires on that show are not depicted as bats. (I guess it shows my age that my memories of vampire shows are from watching Bela Lugosi as a vampire when I was kid). I LOVE that show, but it is getting to be really really weird, with new and even more creepy characters and “things” each week.
I have always been that person who could not watch a scary show–I tend to wake up in the night and feel that the creatures depicted are actually right outside my window, and if I have one toe sticking out from under the covers they will get me. So for me to watch True Blood on a consistent basis is really exceptional. I DO have weird dreams from watching it, and sometimes I just know there is a werewolf or some other shape shifter lurking in the dark outside, but I just have to know what happens to Sookie! So, call me batty, but its just one of those conundrums of life that I MUST watch this show.
Oh gosh!!!! Yuck!
You have to be really careful with bats, even touching them (or touching something they’ve touched). They don’t just transfer disease from bites!!!
You can see bats flying around our parks at night. I thought they were everywhere that there are lots of trees. I don’t think I could pick one up, even with a little picker, lol…good job!
Ick! I actually shuddered when I saw your picture. I hate bats! I worked for my grandmother one summer in her pottery shop and was constantly having to hide from the dive bombing bats that lived in the rafters…Yuck!
You should go to Jeremy’s bat program. They are good bug eating bats, not blood. Yet seeing on one the ground is not a good sign. You did good Ranger Karen.
They’re actually good IF THEY DON’T HAVE RABIES! — they eat bad bugs! We put up bat houses when we owned a house ourselves. (That being said, I wouldn’t want one in my hair or on my neck, yuck!).
Sometimes bats are blown out of trees in a storm. Generally they will recover and fly off. This happened one time at my house when a red wing bat and her baby was blown out of a tree.
We love bats in coastal Texas because they eat mosquitoes. Actually, some people love them and put up bat houses for them, and other people think they are nuts.