Hundreds of Tadarida brasiliensis bats were able to return to their habitat Wednesday night in the Houston, Texas, bridge area after an animal welfare organization took over the care of the small mammals for a week in incubators, in the heat or even in intensive care after an unusual cold wave hit the US, reports AFP.

About 700 bats were released under a bridge in this large Texas city by the Humane Society.

Last week, extremely low and unusual temperatures for the region caused “hypothermic shock” in their colony: unable to hold on to the structure of the building, the bats fell from a height of five to ten meters, the organization said.

Weighing an average of 13 grams and 10-12 centimeters long, these bats are “tiny, have little body fat and cannot survive long when lying on the ground in freezing temperatures,” the NGO explained on its Facebook page. .

Volunteers helped collect them, so the organization placed more than 1,500 bats over the weekend in its shelter or in the attic of its director, Mary Warwick.

Most needed only warmth and hydration, but the worst affected were placed in incubators and fed intravenously. The vast majority survived.

The return of milder temperatures, 22 degrees Celsius Wednesday night in Houston, released the first group of bats at dusk as they take off for the night’s insect hunt. Others will soon do the same. (Source Agerpres)