Wanted to say thank you for taking something that was honestly fine, safe, and actually showed someone doing something good for a misunderstood animal and turning it into garbage. Sorry I didn't turn the actual event into a PSA about how wild bats should be handled, and how someone is wrong or stupid. And thanks for the hate mail I'm getting for blasting my post. You didn't bother to ask any questions whatsoever, you simply stated your opinion and trashed something that was intended to be good.
I’m sorry you’re getting hate mail. That’s never an appropriate response to any of the posts on this blog, and I’m severely disappointed in any of my followers who have chosen to participate.
I know your post was intended to be good - and unfortunately, that’s the problem. Intentions don’t often influence the outcome of a situation, and in this case your post was perpetuating a lot of mentalities about interacting with wildlife that a) are dangerous and incorrect b) are already widely thought to be true c) are often actually illegal, depending on location and d) can have utterly devastating results. That needs to be commented on, no matter how unpleasant the truth of the situation is.
I don’t expect everyone to do their own educational outreach work when posting about interacting with animals, but I will continue to add commentary when necessary to help protect people and animals both. It is crucial for post involving handling wildlife or exotic animals in a professional capacity to also contain a PSA for anyone reading about why they should or should not mimic the actions mentioned, and what they should do instead - that context is crucial for safety and to help the public make informed choices about how to help the animals they care about. Simply sharing ‘hey we did this thing and it didn’t turn out badly for us’ is very likely to lead to situations that end badly for those who read it and emulate that behavior. Most often, that’s just ‘rescued’ wildlife that is forever disabled or must be euthanized because it was ‘helped’ incorrectly by well meaning people. But sometimes, the fallout can be way worse - and when the potential ‘bad’ is rabies... that’s a really big problem.
To understand where I’m coming from, it might help you to read the post recently reblogged here written by someone who does wildlife rehab professionally - they talk about the condition animals that people try to help themselves are brought in in, and why it’s so crucial that they be allowed to do their jobs.
