Joette Westerburg is an animal rescuer from Indian Trail, North Carolina. One day she is called to a pond. A goose has reportedly been hit by a car.
Before Joette can save the goose, however, a completely unexpected emergency plops right at her feet.
Feeding geese with interruption
Arriving at the pond, Joette first tries to locate the injured goose. She discovers a whole flock of geese and throws them some oats.
She tries to recognize which goose is injured by the birds‘ movements. In fact, it’s not just one goose. There are two.
But before Joette can take care of them, a reddish-brown bat suddenly falls from a tree and lands in the grass in front of her.
Expert advice
The organization Joette works for specializes in rescuing waterfowl. She doesn’t know much about bats.
However, she quickly realizes that the little creature didn’t just fall out of a tree, but needs help.
After a brief consultation with her colleagues, Joette turns to the Carolina Wildlife Conservation Center. Here they can give her expert advice.
She takes the little bat to a safe place, takes a few photos for the experts to see and gives the animal a stick to hold on to.
The next day, she is told to come back and have a look, but then something completely unexpected happens.
A dangerous incident
„She was beautiful“,
joette remembers later and continues:
„I had never seen a bat this close up before. I was fascinated by its color and its size. It was so small.“
Joette is completely absorbed by the sight of the cute animal when the bat suddenly spreads its wings and flies off.
However, it doesn’t get very far and falls into the pond. Fortunately, Joette manages to fish the little animal out of the water with a landing net before it drowns.
Once again, she calls the Carolina Wildlife Conservation Center and this time they tell her to bring the bat by.
An examination reveals that it has injured its wings and is missing a toe. However, the experts are hopeful that the little one will recover.
Source: The Dodo
