Four protected bats die and 47 orphaned after 'builder dumped them on side of country road'

By Daily Mail Reporter


One of the tiny bats that was rescued is given a special milk formula as volunteers fight to keep them alive


Four bats have died and 47 are being cared for after they were cruelly dumped by the side of a country lane and left to die.

Inside a box on the road near Ludgershall, Wiltshire, a passerby found the box of 51 pipistrelle bats - a protected breed - and all but two of them were pups.

After they were rescued they were taken to a nearby wildlife hospital where they were given round-the-clock treatment before being dispersed across Southern England to be cared for by volunteers.


It is thought that a builder may have come across the colony and rather than contacting authorities such as Natural England they removed them.

Because they are protected, to do so is illegal without a licence and police are now investigating.

Marilyn Boyes-Kortis, from Wiltshire Wildlife Hospital, said: 'It is absolutely disgusting that someone could do this.

'It is cold at night and they would have died very quickly if someone hadn't found them. They must have been really cold and babies need warmth.

'They will now have to be kept and looked after for a long time because the problem is teaching them how to feed and catch their own food.

'Someone has come across this nursery when they were doing building work, and realised that it would mean they would not be able to continue work until at least the autumn because it is illegal to disturb nesting bats at least until the babies have left the nursery.'

Bats usually only have one baby at a time meaning that dozens of parents would have become distressed to learn that their pups had disappeared.

Mrs Boyes-Kurtis spent the first night hand-feeding the baby bats with special formula milk before they were given to six 'foster carers'.

Six of the pipistrelles had to stay at the wildlife care centre for three days further observation before they were sent to a hospital on the Isle of Wight.


source:dailymail