Photo: Simon Grant
On a wall
A Pallid Bat tucked against an entryway wall.
Finding a bat outside is usually nothing to worry about, bats rest in all kinds of places between flights. What you should do depends entirely on where the bat is and whether it can get itself to safety. Find the situation that matches yours.
On the ground
It probably needs help.
Most BC bats can’t take off from the ground, they rely on gravity, dropping from a height into flight. A grounded bat may be dehydrated, sick, or injured, a juvenile that fell from its roost, or one that was dodging a predator.
Keep children and pets well back, and never handle a bat with bare hands. If it must be moved, wear thick leather gloves and use an implement, or the cupping method: place a container over the bat and slide a stiff lid underneath.
Look closely, which is it?
Take a photo to send your Community Bat Program coordinator and report it. While you wait, work out which of these matches.
Obviously injured
Blood, or a wing that looks broken? Go straight to Injured or dead bat.
Appears dead
It may just be in torpor (deep sleep). Give it a minute, gently touch it with a stick, and try turning it over. Still no breathing or movement? See Injured or dead bat.
Sick or dehydrated
Alive but limp in a hot, sunny spot? Call a wildlife rehabilitator if there’s one nearby. Otherwise box it with water in a shallow lid, keep it shaded, and release it onto a tree at dusk, or move it up higher into shade using the cupping method.
Active & alert
It may just need height. Slide a 3-foot stick under its back feet, let it grip, then lift it slowly onto a tree or fence at head height so it can drop into flight.
On a wall, fence or trellis
Leave it alone.
Single, healthy bats often rest on outside walls, fences, screen doors, and garden trellises, especially in spring, late summer, and fall. These are usually males or migrating bats taking a daytime break, sometimes dropping into torpor for a few days before moving on.
Give it space
- Avoid the area for a few days, set a pylon so people walk around it, or post a small sign.
- Still there after 7 days? Report it to a regional coordinator or via the online form.
A tiny bat between mid-June and the end of August?
If the bat is smaller than 1.5 inches (3.8 cm), it may be a pup. Females have one pup a year, born in June and flying by July, and pups sometimes fall from the roost or lose their way while learning.
- If you know where the roost is, wear thick leather gloves and use a small dustpan to place the pup near the roost entrance.
- If you don’t, leave it be and contact a coordinator.
Is it injured? If you can see blood or a broken limb, go to Injured or dead bat. Roosting down low where children or pets can reach it? It’s safer to move it, contact us or follow the steps for moving a bat.
An odd spot
Let us know.
Bats turn up in the most unexpected places, patio umbrellas, awnings, garden pots, sailboat sails, woodpiles, and more. If you spot one somewhere curious, leave it be and tell us.
Photo: BC Community Bat Program
In a planter
A Myotis sheltering in the leaves of a garden pot.
Photo: T. Dumont
On a fence
A bat resting in the rails of a fence.
The best thing is usually to leave the bat alone, unless it’s injured and needs help, or it’s somewhere children or pets can reach and needs moving.
Found a bat in an awning or blind? Take care not to squish it, and if it’s a group of bats, that’s a colony. In winter, you may turn up a Silver-haired Bat overwintering in your woodpile: just set the piece of wood back and take your firewood from another part of the pile for a month or so until it moves on.