An Argument For Double Bagging

This is a Little Brown Bat, the most common type of bat in Maine and North America. They frequently roost in buildings, which is how I happen to be able to photograph this one. We have  friends who own a gorgeous, Georgian style home in Bath, 'The City Of Ships.' The house is on the historic register and is appointed with opulent European antiques. It's nearly a museum of finery. However, several times every year, the homeowner calls my husband in a panic because there is a bat in one of the bedrooms. David calmly removes them seeming heroic for doing so, though it's not difficult. After capture, he lets them go away from the house. Last fall, he called me after one of these heroic moments to tell me he had a bat and was bringing it home for me to photograph. Of course, I was thrilled and thought moonily about how much the man loves me to think of me with this gesture. Waiting for him to arrive, I cleaned a Victorian glass display dome I had saved for just this moment. It was my plan to put the bat inside, photograph it then release it after I had my way. When David arrived, I went outside to greet him, ready with my dome. I was smart enough not to make the transfer from wherever David had the bat ensconced to the dome while inside the house. From his pick-up truck, David brought a wadded up towel. He explained that the bat had been inside a drapery. He had plucked if off into the towel. While I waited with the dome, ready to trap the animal, he gingerly unwrapped the folds of towel, one by one. I got more excited with each peeled back fold like watching a wildlife version of Gypsy Rose Lee. Advancing deeper and deeper into the depths of the towel, my breathing quickened, my heart raced! David opened it completely, revealing - NO BAT! I asked "David, where did you have the bat in the truck? Tell me it was in the back, not the cab." David looked at me nervously and then reflexivley at his pantleg. "Uh, no. I had it in the cab, with me, uh......in the towel." I shrieked "Oh God! That means it's still  in the truck!" We tore the truck cab apart, a major undertaking as the cab of the truck is a rolling garbage can. On any given day it is stuffed with soda bottles, wrappers, spoiled food, newspapers, clothing, tools, and junk mail. We pulled out and examined every piece of debris, but NO BAT. I was so disappointed. And, I was afraid that the bat had crawled up behind the firewall under the steering wheel, only to one day, climb out on David's leg. But, time went by, and the bat did not appear leaving us with a creepy, unsolved mistery. So this time, when David called to tell me he was on his way with a bat, I demanded that he secure the mammal-laden towel wad into a bag and double bag. He did not argue.




This Little Brown Bat appeared very healthy, even cute, don't you think? My next post will be about bats, this one and all the others and the fate of human kind. If you want instructions on how to remove a bat from your bedroom, watch this.