Feb. 3 (UPI) — Animal rescuers in Australia responded to a hotel where a bat apparently attempted to take a drink from the swimming pool and became trapped in the water.
Kate CJ Murphy, president of Townsville Bat Rescue Australia, posted a video to the organization’s Facebook page showing the black flying fox swimming in the pool, unable to get out.
“She was about two months old and probably just testing her wings, trying to fly for the first time away from mum,” Murphy told news.com.au. “We get a few two to three month olds flying for the first time and they get themselves in odd positions.”
She said the hotel is located near mangroves that host a large number of bats.
“Bats fly down to rivers to skim the water to drink, they don’t hang still and drink — they skim down as they’re flying. [And] the lap pool looks like a river to a bat who is learning about life,” Murphy said. “Before we had all this rain in Townsville we had extreme heat and she possibly thought it was a good place to have a drink.”
She said the bat apparently tried to skim the surface of the water, but ended up colliding with the shade cover when attempting to fly upward.
Murphy said the flying mammal will join a colony of about 30 other rescued bats that will eventually be released together.
