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The A&M Four |
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 Imagine
one day you are flying
free, chasing bugs as nature intended and then, suddenly, you are
caught in a mist net and transported to a place unknown to you. And
instead of being allowed to sleep peacefully during the day, you are held down and viewed under
hot microscopes and bright lights. Life,
as you have always known it, will never be the same. Then one day
the people who took your freedom accidentally injure your wing, and the very injury that should have cost you
your life has now saved you.
Meet the "A&M Pallids", four bats with very lucky
injuries. These girls were captured with over 20 others in their
colony to be used in a
cruel research project at Texas A&M
University.
It has long been the
practice of most institutions involved in animal research to destroy
the subjects at the conclusion of the study (or if they sustain an
injury during the study). Research animals are not returned to the
wild. However, a dedicated research assistant involved in the study thought it wrong that such beautiful creatures,
who did nothing but exist as Mother Nature intended, should have
this fate befall them. |
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In May of 2006 she contacted Bat World Sanctuary to see if there was a place for Beene'
(above) the first of the four females to be retired from A&M. Of course
our answer was a resounding "Yes". As further
discussion took place, Amanda Lollar, President of Bat World,
requested all of the bats used in the research studies be
given a second chance. The research assistant made a conscious decision to make a
difference in her work. She diligently pleaded with the
research staff until they finally agreed to have all of the bats
retired to Bat World
upon completion of the research.
In 2008, three more
females received wing injures while being used in the research and were subsequently allowed to join Beene' at Bat World
Sanctuary. It had been two full years since she'd seen any of
her original roostmates. Beene' nuzzled their faces and fur in
enthusiasm as she greeted her long lost friends.
The A&M Four are very fearful
around humans, so except for gentle and periodic health checks, they
are disturbed as little as possible. The girls "hang out" in padded roosting pouches with
other with rescued non-releasable bats of different species. They now enjoy an unfettered life in
a simulated
cave that opens into a flight area; with nightly flights limited only
by their handicapped wings. |
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As sad as this story is, these four bats and the lucky ones. Not only were
they spared from being euthanized in an inhumane manner, they were spared from
further participation in the cruel research being conducted at
Texas A&M University. We will continue to care for the A&M Four until
the end of their natural lives. It is not the best thing -for that
would have been being returned to the wild- but it is a decent runner up. |
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FOOTNOTE:
We are extremely grateful to the research assistant who worked so hard to protect these bats.
Unfortunately,
she left A&M University in 2008, gravely concerned about
the fate of these animals. In September of 2008 disturbing information
came to light about
the actual
research at Texas A&M (see our
Wall of Shame for
the entire story). |
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