How I Originally Became Interested in Bats

It was 1995 and I was watching the Discovery Channel. The topic was bats and the location was Mineral Wells, Texas. The story was about a woman, Amanda Lollar (http://www.batworld.org/), who was walking along the sidewalk one summer day and found a little Mexican Free-Tailed bat, later know as "Sunshine") clinging to life, baking on the sidewalk. Amanda knew nothing of bat rehab, and I suspect that there was very little knowledge in general about it then, anyway, but she knew that she could not leave the bat to die, so she scooped it up took it home, so do enormous amounts of research on helping her.

The story unfolded to reveal that on that day, Amanda's life was changed. Since then, she has given her life to rehabbing and saving bats, as well as becoming a foremost authority on bats in the US. I was greatly moved by this, having been an animal lover my entire life, saving little creatures that I would encounter, who needed some sort of treatment and help. Soon, I began joining groups like BCI (Bat Conservation International) and Bat World Sanctuary. Trips were organized to tour caves and watch bat emergences at dusk. I traveled to do these things.

Eventually, in 2003, I decided to learn from Amanda in Texas, and attended her "Bat Boot Camp" so that I, too, could begin to personally help and save bats. The first step was to be innoculated against rabies, though. In July, 2003, I attended the week-long, intensive, 12+ hour days to learn about bats. I was elated and the experience was very rewarding!

At that time I was living in New Orleans, LA, and the people attending Amanda's bootcamp were from all over the US. Two people I met there were from Madison, WI, and we became friends. Also while I was there my husband was offered a position at a university in Milwaukee, so it evolved that the Madison bat rehabbers and I would be working closely together after my move.