This silver-haired bat is recovering at the Interior Wildlife Rehabilitation Society in Summerland after the tree it was living in was cut down resulting in injury.

Image Credit: SUBMITTED/ Interior Wildlife Rehabilitation Society

Things are looking up for a silver-haired bat that has been recovering at a wildlife facility in Okanagan since it was brought in with a broken forearm this summer.

The bat was injured when the tree it was living in was cut down and a biologist brought to a vet before it was transferred to the Interior Wildlife Rehabilitation Society in Summerland mid-August.

“It is looking good as far as healing goes,” said society owner Eva Hartmann. “He doesn’t have a bat cast anymore, we want it to be able to stretch that wing and start rebuilding muscles in the shoulder.”

The Okanagan is home to the most bat species in province because of the warm climate, and local advocacy groups and rehab centres like the one in Summerland work to keep the populations healthy. The mammals are important for the ecosystem because they consume so many insects, but half of the sixteen species in BC are listed as vulnerable or threatened, according to BC Bats.

They can carry and are susceptible to several diseases, viruses and bacteria. White Nose Syndrome was introduced to eastern North America in 2006 and since then an estimated six-million bats have died, said BC Bats.

“White Nose is a type of fungus that is worrying bat biologists in western Canada and the states,” Hartmann said. “The society has never had a bat with White Nose and any that were suspicious have been sent to a lab for testing. So far we’ve sent three for testing and none came back with the fungus.”

She added the fungus is most likely to spread in high densities that are not seen at the facility where they either have one bat in their care or keep multiples in separated in enclosures.

Darlene Hartford is oversees the Bat Education and Ecological Society based in Peachland. The society looks after a bat colony living in the attic of the Peachland Historic School.

“We have been doing bat counts and the numbers are consistent with what we’ve had in previous years and there is no sign of White Nose,” she said. “We started putting echo meters in different areas in the city to identify species and where they are roosting so we can make an inventory and follow up in the spring to make sure the bats are healthy.”

Hartmann currently has two silver-hair bats in her care and said there are multiple reasons why bats end up injured.

“This one’s tree was cut down and the other one got stuck in a glue trap,” she said. 

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It takes six weeks for a bat bone to heal and when that time is done, the silver-hair bat with the broken forearm will be moved into a large enclosure where staff will see if it’s able to fly. 

“He’s eating 10 to 20 mealworms in a sitting and he doesn’t need much encouragement,” Hartmann said.

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Hartmann said if the public finds a bat that is in distress, grounded or injured it is recommended they contact a licensed local wildlife rehabilitation centre or a bat biologist. The BC Wildlife Park and Interior Wildlife are the only centres licensed by the government to rehabilitate and release bats in the Thompson-Okanagan region. It is illegal to rehabilitate wildlife without a permit.

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