A warm spring evening of March 23, 2014 was marked by the ceremony of release of over 500 bats in the Feldman Ecopark, which were rescued during the winter by the Centre of Cheiroptera Rehabilitation. This mass action attracted hundreds of people who gladly released bats with their own hands and enjoyed the pirouettes of these creatures in the air above the forest. The spring ceremony of bats release became a good tradition always attracting the attention of both nature enthusiast, and mass media.
Bats are very beautiful and elegant, unique, mysterious and insufficiently studied creatures. They found comfortable places for hibernation in the centre of Kharkiv (like Derzhprom and Karazin Kharkiv National University), as well as in multistoried buildings of some residential districts. Due to this they often get into trouble, as a disturbed bat that found itself outside in winter may just freeze and die. In order to help these animals, the Feldman Ecopark founded the Centre of Cheiroptera Rehabilitation.
The head of the Centre, Anton Vlashchenko Cand. Sc. (Biology) tells that the first release was the result of a five-year work on the establishment of the Centre of Cheiroptera Rehabilitation in Kharkiv. The idea of its opening appeared long before. The students and the graduates of the biology department of V.N. Karazin Kharkiv National University decided to rescue bats, which fell into window traps or were found by people in 1999. They gave water and food to animals found in winter, and then settled them for hibernation. It was difficult to make this at home, mainly due to the absence of proper conditions for extra nutrition. Some animals died. Year after year, the number of animals found in Kharkiv increased. There were about 150-200 bats per year in 2005-2007, and over 400 in 2008. In 2011, 766 bats were brought from the building of Derzhprom, 421 bats from the building of the University, and 162 – from the other building throughout the city. It was too difficult to keep this number of animals at home. That is why the specialists began to establish the Centre of Cheiroptera Rehabilitation in real earnest.
“We prepared the project documentation with the topicality and the significance of the similar Centre for preservation of the Red List animals were indicated in detail, as well as the procurement costs on the Centre’s work organization. The specialists knocked at every door of various scientific and zoological organizations, but were refused everywhere. And finally, the decision to open Ukraine’s first Centre of Cheiroptera Rehabilitation in the Feldman Ecopark was made upon the initiative of the ICF “Oleksandr Feldman Foundation”,” Anton Vlashchenko tells.
Wild animals need even more human attention and help than pets. The loss of natural habitats, te climatic changes, the nature’s pollution – it is not the complete list of factors endangering the whole species. Many wild animals are forced to adapt to new, unnatural conditions due to the expanding human infrastructure. The specialists consider that one of the striking examples of the similar forced symbiosis of wild animals and human beings is a life of bats in Kharkiv.
All species of bats in our country are in the Red list. There are 13 species of bats on the territory of Kharkiv oblast, including 9 species in the city of Kharkiv. Kharkiv with its multistoried buildings is attractive for the bats. Their number increases every year. The cracks in the walls of high rise buildings resemble rocky steeps, where the bats hibernated originally. However, they cannot foresee all threats of the city. During the autumn migration, many bats fly into the open windows of houses in search of temporary refuge. For example, hundreds of animals get into the space between window frames in the building of Kharkiv University, where they may die if not taken in time. During winter thaws, a part of animals wake up and change their refuge. Under the conditions of high temperature and absence of water, the animals quickly lose their fat stores and die. People being in thrall to silly superstitions and fears also become a reason of bats’ death frequently, the specialists emphasize.
During 2013-2014 winter, the specialists of the Centre of Cheiroptera Rehabilitation of the Feldman Ecopark rescued over 600 bats of 5 species. In 2015, the record number of bats was rescued – 2,000 animals. The bats were mainly found in Kharkiv, while over 100 animals were given for rehabilitation from the other regions of Ukraine (Kharkiv, Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, and Cherkassy oblasts). Each animal undergoes careful examination. They get water and vitamins, they are weighed and ringed. The animals with proper weight are settled for hibernation in the special room with the optimal temperature and humidity regimes. The bats with underweight, injuries, or just weak animals undergo treatment and are fed with grubs.
“The Centre of Cheiroptera Rehabilitation is not just the opportunity to help wild animals. First of all, it is the opportunity to help people. It is the opportunity to help people understand how high is the human responsibility to animals, which are force to live nearby and which suffer from this,” Anton Vlashchenko emphasizes. “The idea of the Centre stipulates not only the work on bats’ rescue, but also the active interaction between the visitors of the Feldman Ecopark and the animals. It is the interaction at a whole new level allowing to understand that it is not enough to “stroke” a pet or a tame animal, it is more important to make at least something that will really help wild animals living near human beings to survive.”
“During these years, we managed to achieve more friendly attitude of people towards bats thanks to the active educational work. But the main thing is that we managed to rescue over 3,000 animals and to return them to nature! We get the messages about the findings of bats with the help of special websites and the informational centres of the Feldman Ecopark, Animals Rescue Service, and the State Emergency Service of Ukraine. Our educational work about bats is successful mainly owing to the mass media involvement. Newspapers, magazines and TV are already interested bats,” the Centre’s deputy chief Olena Prylutska Cand. Sc. (Biology) tells.
