Guardian of the Bats: Bat Rescue and Rehabilitation with JoEllen Arnold

JoEllen Arnold inspects the wing of a male little brown bat called Solano, after his rescuer. Solano cannot fly due to several puncture holes and a vertical tear in his wing membranes, injuries consistent with a cat attack. Wing membranes usually heal well, giving him an excellent chance at a full recovery and release.

Waking up every two hours to feed an orphaned newborn bat pup, providing emergency maternal care for a hoary bat giving birth to breech twins, or grooming sleek bat fur with a mascara brush are all routine parts of life for JoEllen Arnold, a retired teacher, who is a bat "rehabber," and conservation advocate.

JoEllen volunteers with NorCal Bats, an organization dedicated to protecting bats through education, rescue and rehabilitation. When someone finds a sick or injured bat in the six-county region surrounding Sacramento, NorCal Bats will get a call or a text requesting help. In Sacramento itself, there is one just person who can help, and that’s JoEllen, so she has her hands full. Caring for these tiny flying mammals requires specialized knowledge and skills, which she has developed over a nearly a decade of service through collaborative problem-solving with a tight-knit community of knowledgeable bat rehabbers and through heartbreaking first-hand experiences.

On a recent September afternoon in downtown Sacramento, JoEllen sat at her table in front of a wall of windows overlooking her backyard wildlife garden. She was preparing for her daily ritual: feeding and caring for the rescued bats in her care. She laid out her tools: thick leather gloves, a dish of wriggling live mealworms, tiny syringes filled with a specialized paste of food and water, a stack of clean, soft rags, and her digital gram scale. The process usually takes her an hour or two, depending on how many bats she is currently caring for and how much help each individual requires from her to meet their basic needs.

Just as lactation consultants do for newborn human babies who are not gaining weight quickly enough, JoEllen weighs each bat before and after their feeding session. She must determine how much food each bat has taken in. She uses a digital gram scale, capable of accurately weighing items down to a one-hundredth of a gram, about the weight of a housefly. This information, along with how well the bat can fly, helps her gauge its health and readiness for release.

Bats are vital to the health of our ecosystems. They eat many bugs that can be harmful to us, such as moths that eat crops, and mosquitoes that can be a vector for diseases like West Nile virus. There are 17 species of bats in Northern California and 1,462 species worldwide, a number that is growing as scientists continue to identify more species with the help of new technologies such as thermal scopes to locate their roosts and DNA analysis.

In this interview with Growing Wild, JoEllen Arnold shares how she started working with bats, her daily bat rehab care routine, and why we don’t need to fear bats. Her commitment to these fascinating animals shows up in her relentless perseverance and compassionate care.

*Lodi, a hoary bat, gets a good grooming between her ears with a clean mascara brush.*

*A big brown bat called Coffee was found on the ground under a palm tree outside a Midtown Sacramento coffee shop.*

GW: How did you get started working with bats?

JA: I was teaching school, and one summer I was looking for interesting things to do. I happened upon a workshop about bats of the world put on by two bat researchers at the Yosemite Institute. When I got there, I was absolutely floored. I had no idea about the diversity of different bat species, where they lived or how they lived. I came away absolutely amazed. I was teaching fifth grade at the time, so we started studying bats as part of our science curriculum. As the kids learned, I learned, and it just grew from there.

I began traveling to see bats. My first Bat Conservation International trip was to Belize. I went to Thailand with a small group of bat enthusiasts called Thai Bats. Bat people are pretty fun to travel with. We would go and set up mist nets to catch bats to help in local research. On a trip to Africa, we caught nine different species of bats in a banana field in Uganda. People have a lot of fear of bats, so it’s always wonderful to have moments like these where we catch them and show them to people who have only ever known them as that fleeting shadow in the night. When they can see the bat’s face, things change for them.

Once we visited a one-room schoolhouse in Nicaragua. When we got there, we said, “We’re here to study bats. You have a lot of wonderful bats in your area. What can you tell us about your bats here? What do you already know about bats?” The students looked at us, looked at each other, and looked at their teacher. Finally, one student said, “Well, my papa kills bats.” And then another student said, “Yeah, yeah, my papa kills bats too.” You know, that was it. That was what their relationship with bats was. If you see a bat, kill it.

That led us to a larger bat conservation and education effort. The bat organization we were traveling with designed a poster with portraits of the local bat species and what they specialized in, including the vampire bats. We raised money to have the poster printed in Nicaragua, laminated, and distributed it to every single school and community center in Nicaragua. I hope it made a difference for at least some bats.

This canyon bat, called Birdcage after the shopping mall where she was found, has a swollen and possibly fractured wrist. She has been unable to fly or feed herself since she came into care in August. Canyon bats are the smallest North American bat species, weighing only 3-4 grams, about 1/10th of an ounce.

GW: What led you to rescue, rehabilitate, and release bats?

JA: It happened gradually. At first, I started volunteering to pick up bats and transport them to be cared for. Sometimes, I would get stuck with a bat, so I had to learn how to take care of it. One of the very first bat calls I went out on was in Loomis in 2014. The bat had been seen in a bedroom the night before. There were 10 million places for a bat to hide. I looked around and looked up, and I saw one of the bat’s wings through the louvers that go over the ventilation duct. The homeowner got a screwdriver and a ladder and I was able to climb up, unscrew the vent cover, and grab the little bat. After the homeowner and I had admired the bat, I released it outdoors, and it flew off into a tree to wait until dark.

*JoEllen removes a bat from its carrier. The carriers are lined and covered with flannel baby swaddles which won’t catch on their toenails and thumbnails like the loops of a towel would.*

GW: What specialized qualifications do you need to work with bats?

JA: We are permitted and trained to do bat rehabilitation through NorCal Bats and Wildlife Rehabilitation and Release, the wildlife care association we work under. In order to care for bats and other rabies vector species, you need a rabies vaccination. You need to go in with gloves, and never handle bats barehanded. Grabbing a roosting bat is sort of like picking a piece of fruit off a tree. They’re hanging by their feet, and their toes curl down while they’re hanging. Sometimes, if they’re hard to get off, you have to lift them to disengage their little toenails. It’s nice to lift them up with a piece of cloth so you can wrap them up, place the whole cloth in a box, and close it down tight.

*Western mastiff bat toenails and toe whiskers. Most bat species don’t have whiskers on their toes, but free-tail species do.*

GW: What should you do if you find a bat?

JA: Stay calm. Go online, and search for tips. If it is flying in your home, open doors and windows, and turn out the lights to give the bat a chance to fly out. If it has landed in your home, or if you see a bat outdoors on the ground, or which hasn’t moved overnight, call your local rescue group for assistance. Don’t ever handle a bat with bare hands. Put the bat in a box with a t-shirt or smooth, soft cloth so it can hide in the cloth. Don’t use a towel because they can get their thumbnails and toenails caught in the loops of a towel. You can place a teeny tiny cap full of water in the box with the bat. Do not try to feed it anything.

A young California Myotis known as Lost Boy gets water from a syringe. JoEllen places a tiny water drop on the bat's lips instead of in his mouth to prevent him from aspirating. If he is thirsty, he will lick it off himself. Bats aspirate very easily, which can cause them to die of pneumonia. People who find injured bats should never try to give a bat any food or liquids other than a tiny cap full of water placed in their box while they wait for transportation to be cared for by a trained rehabber. Lost Boy grew up in care and was able to be released near where he had been found just a few days after this photo was taken.

GW: What does a typical day caring for bats look like for you?

JA: I get up and get moving, take care of my dog and myself. As soon as I can, I start feeding. I currently have about four bats that I need to feed in the morning before I do anything else. That takes me anywhere from an hour and a half to two hours, depending on how they’re feeding and whether I have to get mealworms ready.

JoEllen hand-feeds a mealworm to Lost Boy, a California Myotis. She uses tweezers and offers the back of the mealworm’s head first so the mealworm doesn't bite the bat. Bats can eat dozens of mealworms in one sitting.

*Marbles in the bats’ water bowls prevent the bats from getting their wings caught and from drowning in their water dishes.*

GW: Are the carriers specially designed so the bats don’t hurt their wings?

JA: Soft carriers are essential, but the carriers we use are not designed for bats. They are for small dogs, cats, and other small animals. I also have a screen house in the basement. Three young bats are down there right now, stretching their wings and practicing flying. I hope to release them in a few days. Before I can release them, I have to figure out who’s flying and who isn’t. They also have to be self-feeding when they’re down there.

*Bats are excellent at hiding. JoEllen holds the carrier up to the light to look for the bat.*

GW: Bats are social animals. Do they warm up to you and get less nervous around you when they're in your care?

JA: Yes, they do. They usually come in bitey and afraid, but they're pretty calm once they figure out what’s going on. They are most likely to bite in the beginning. Once they are relaxed, they’re usually not going to bite anymore.

*This Mexican free-tailed bat called Elk Grove, named for where he was found, is crawling into JoEllen’s hands in anticipation of his meal. Bats are able to crawl as well as fly.*

GW: What is bat pupping season like?

JA: I need to feed the newborn bat pups every two to three hours. It’s very intense. This was a tough summer. We were getting all these teeny tiny canyon bat pups, and they were dying. Not a single one survived in my care or in the care of the other local rehabbers as far as I know. There were more canyon bat pups this year than ever, and we are unsure why. The tiny ones just didn’t make it, and that was super sad. Someone transported one Myotis bat pup down to me from Lake Almanor. It was four hours of driving. The pup was doing really, really, really, really well. She was so engaging. When I would open the incubator door, she would come marching right out onto my hand. She was just delightful, and I loved her so much. She was a trooper. And then she died. I think I let an hour too long go by without feeding her. I thought she could take it, but no. I was just mortified. It’s one of those times where we could have done it differently. It’s frustrating when we try really hard, and we lose a lot of sleep, and we spend a lot of time, and then they die. This year, I didn’t get any Mexican free-tailed pups until July. The free-tails are bigger, tougher and more likely to survive. So, that’s a blessing.

GW: How did you become known as the “bat midwife”?

JA: A hoary bat was found on the ground in Sacramento and brought in for rehabilitation. It turned out her wings had been eaten up by wing-wasting syndrome, so she was not releasable, but we were pretty sure she was pregnant. I was hand-feeding her one day, and her belly really started rumbling. She was trying to grip the surface of the place where I was feeding her, but she couldn’t get a good grip. So I was holding her in my hand to keep her head up to let gravity help with the birthing process. Eventually, I could see something protruding from her vulva, but I couldn’t tell what it was.

I texted a photo to a bat rehabilitation expert in Texas who had experience with bat births. When she looked at the picture and wrote, “Uh, well, it looks like you have a breech there, and you might have to do an episiotomy,” I just said, “Oh, no.” And then she said, “You’ll need to apply traction.” So then I asked Corky Quirk, the founder of NorCal Bats, who facilitates our rescue efforts, “What does she mean by 'apply traction'?” Corky said, “I think she means pull.”

So I pulled on what was protruding, and the elbow of the wing came out, and then the little bat just slurped right out. So that was fabulous. The pup was in good shape. Hoary bats are a big bat species that often have twins. Sure enough, a little while later, she gave birth to a second baby. So it was a boy and then a girl.

We just let the mom take care of them. I put them back in the large pen. It’s three feet in diameter and a foot and a half tall. It’s a big, soft enclosure. Unfortunately, later that night, we learned a sad lesson when one of the babies got dragged through the water dish and drowned. It helped with future births. We always remove the water dishes after delivery now because we know the moms can be disoriented.

Not all bats recover enough to be released. Lodi, a hoary bat, cannot be returned to the wild because she came in with a crushed elbow injury, resulting in the amputation of her wing. Despite her missing wing, she is able to self-feed. She has been in care since 2021.

GW: How do you cope with the emotions of witnessing bats who are sick and die, or when you aren’t able to successfully rehabilitate them?

JA: That makes me cry right there. The hardest part is that we get to know them. They are each individuals. Our little rescue bat named Curly died last night. He came in as a neonate the day he was born. He was born with a crooked spine and club feet. He couldn’t hang or move around very well. He had to be hand-fed, bathed, and groomed multiple times a day. Caring for him was a pain! But I thought he was fine. He was very cheerful and always happy to eat. I thought he would live forever, and we would have to start the “Curly Club” so he could move from person to person because I couldn’t care for him alone for the rest of his life. But he didn’t survive. He’s somebody that I’d known for the last couple of months, and it’s hard to lose him. But it’s much harder when it’s a mistake that we make. That’s just so painful.

GW: How do you take care of yourself when you experience heartbreaking outcomes?

JA: Well, I certainly write to the list. We have a Facebook Messenger list that we communicate through to our local rehabbers group. People are always sad to hear the news, and they commiserate and write back. People know these bats because we have long-term bats, especially Curly, the little club-footed bat. There was a lot of back and forth on how to take care of him. We have a surgical physician’s assistant (for humans) who works with us who came and figured out how to make him a leg brace. She’s always up for a challenge. She said, “I can make him a leg brace.” And she got the materials together and did it! Eventually, I made three different braces and would bathe him and put a fresh one on. So, I’ve been sharing pictures and videos of his life since he was born.

*This incubator keeps bats warm. JoEllen is currently doing a funding campaign for a portable incubator to keep bats warm during transport.*

GW: What keeps you showing up and working hard to save bats?

JA: I have a lot of individuals here who are dear to my heart. I try not to take on more, but that’s hard. Some volunteers only care for one bat at a time, but most also work, and I don’t work anymore. People are kind and offer to take bats from me. It’s hard for me to let them go to other people, though, once I know them. If we don’t care for them, the bats will die. If a bat is injured or sick, they can’t care for themselves and will die. I can’t stand that thought.

*Elk Grove, a Mexican free-tail bat, stretches his wings. He came into care due to a head injury, but he is making a speedy recovery and will hopefully be released soon.*

GW: How do you know if a bat is ready for release?

JA: The bat needs to be eating well, maintaining a healthy weight, and flying well. They spend a few days to a week in the flight tent in the basement where I can see on video cameras how well they are flying.

*JoEllen weighs each bat before and after their feeding sessions.*

JoEllen uses UV lipstick to mark the bats in the flight tent on different parts of their body so she can tell them apart and uses a black light to be able to see the marking This Mexican free-tailed bat called Railroad was marked on his left foot. He was found inside the California Railroad Museum in Old Sacramento.

Video footage showing bats in the flight tent. Video by JoEllen Arnold.

GW: What is it like when you successfully rehabilitate a bat, and you finally get to release it?

JA: It is a very beautiful moment. I love taking slow-motion videos of them flying away. It’s nice to see when they really are doing well, and they fly off. In one of my favorite release videos (below), watch until the end, the canyon bat circles back around to the right over the meadow. We usually try to release them where they came from. I like to release Mexican free-tailed pups back into the colony at the Yolo Bypass. I just climb right up to the colony and tuck them into an expansion crack. That way I know the colony will return and can talk to the young bat about what to do next.

JoEllen releases a canyon bat at sunset. Video by JoEllen Arnold.

GW: What do you most want people to know about bats?

JA: You really don’t need to fear them. People are so afraid when they call us when they’ve found a bat. They think that just having a bat near them is going to make them sick. But there’s nothing to fear if you don’t handle a bat with your bare hands or any other part of your body.

Many states don’t allow bat rehabilitation. I found out recently that the city of Sacramento has been euthanizing every single bat they come into contact with to test it for rabies. We got a call requesting a red bat rescue, but Sacramento City Animal Services got to the bat before we did. They wouldn’t relinquish it to us. Red bats are solitary foliage roosting bats that would very rarely be sick with rabies. I drove back and forth to various offices, begged, pleaded, and probably even cried a little. I said, please give me that bat! I found out that they had two Mexican free-tails, as well. They euthanized all of them that day. That was a tragic day.

Coffee, a big brown bat, is getting water from a syringe. A special additive is placed in the tap water to prevent the buildup of minerals on the bat’s teeth, which can cause tooth decay and gum disease.

GW: What do you hope for the future for bats and for people?

JA: I really hope that everywhere bats live, they can be cared for. After the recent euthanizations, we made lots of phone calls, sent the city articles, and made a ruckus on Facebook. Hopefully, it will make a difference. The more education, the better. We are so thrilled that the governor has signed the legislation to adopt the pallid bat as the California state bat. Now that California has a state bat, we hope people will be more considerate of all bat species.