Bat Heroes Without Billions

Tracey and Her Bats

Recently Ingecia announced we are proudly supporting the Bat Conservation Trust who do research, outreach and much more for the UK’s native bat population. We support the charity, and now we’re supporting bat-people!

“What is a bat-person?” you may ask. Do they dress like bats, and if so, do they fight crime or attend cosplay conventions? Sadly, no no and no, but they are local heroes, and we’d like to not only raise awareness about these volunteers, but we are also donating money to help them in their worthy activities.

Tracey Jolliffe is a former veterinary nurse turned microbiologist for NHS Scotland. She looks after orphaned baby bats (called pups) nursing them until adulthood, and cares for injured bats until they are fit to return to the wild. A proud “bat lady,” she even has her own ‘bat hospital’ – a converted bedroom for dozens of bats at a time. If you imagine it being a bat-cave you’re not alone, but they actually sleep in cages.

Tracey was kind enough to give us a tour of her mini care facility, complete with a space for assessment and first aid, and enough space for a short test fly. Tracey also has Scotland’s only registered quarantine facility for bats. It comprises of a cage within a cage, within an escape-proof, lockable room. Although not in use often, it recently housed a bat that had hitched a ride from Romania in a shipping container!

Did you know pups need to be fed milk every two hours? When nursing baby bats (pups) Tracey has to keep them with her all day, on her person, feeding them from tiny syringes. Its great she has a job and workplace that allows this, but the idea of her bringing one on a date amuses us to no end. She assures us she’s yet to do this.

Bats that need hand feeding or medication have to go wherever Tracey goes. Luckily her friends understand when she turns up with a poorly bat in a travelling cage, but hotels can be more tricky. Many a bat has been hidden in the bottom of a wardrobe!

But sadly this bat-hero didn’t inherit billions, and while Tracey is happy to donate her time, unfortunately milk, food, medicine, heating and transportation cost money. Ingencia is proud to be supporting Tracey through a cash donation to help her continue the amazing job she has been doing.

Whether or not you rate bats as cute as Tracey does, bat conservation is incredibly important, both in the UK and worldwide. If you’d like to know more, let us know in the comments.

If you’d like to support the Bat Conservation Trust, they have memberships and accept donations, but they are also looking for volunteers to help count bat numbers, become bat carers, help the helpline or provide administration assistance. Anyone can help by making your garden a bat haven by following their Gardening for Bats guide or joining a local bat group.

Ingencia is an Enterprise Content Management specialist. We provide the software and services to solve information-based business problems and to improve operating efficiency and provide records compliance. For organisations such as the BCT, this means saving money and saving time that could otherwise be spent on other things, whether that be education outreach, caring for bats, or on guano duty.