Hundreds of bats around Austin killed by freeze

Hundreds of bats in Austin freeze

The Austin Bat Refuge said hundreds of bats were killed due to the recent freeze in Central Texas.

AUSTIN, Texas - Bats across central Texas are frozen to death or injured as a result of the recent arctic blast.

"Our hearts go out to them. A lot of them are killed by the freeze, so we try to save as many as we can," said Lee Mackenzie, manager of the Austin Bat Refuge.

Hundreds of bats that were brought into the Austin Bat Refuge headquarters are clinging to life after, the nonprofit organization says, the brutal temperatures swept them from their roosts.

"Every time we have an arctic blast, the bats that are living in the crevices of Congress Avenue Bridge and various other bridges around Austin find that they are not prepared for that extreme cold. When they get super cold like that they will often fall off of the bridge, and they are cold stunned," Mackenzie said.

Austin Bat Refuge says it is using a special technique to warm up and nurse the Mexican Free Tailed and Southern Yellow bat species back to good health.

Person treated for hypothermia after rescue

ATCEMS and Austin fire crews responded to a call in the middle of the Colorado River near Longhorn Dam where someone was "yelling for help" from an "island".

"We will help them live. You know we will do whatever we can for them, we will subdue them, we will give them an injection of electrolyte solution under the skin and feed them," Mackenzie said.

The nonprofit organization says it has taken the bats in from about nine separate roosts across Central Texas and asks the public not to pick up bats with your bare hands, to avoid being bitten.

"We would ask that people call us immediately and, if they can, if the bat is grounded on a hike and bike trail, if they can find a stick and gently move the bat off to the side of the trail to get it away from the vehicle traffic, so it doesn't get run over by a bicycle or any number of people jogging past that would be great," Mackenzie said.

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The refuge manager says they have nearly 400 bats and close to 100 are expected to survive. He fears the death toll will rise in the upcoming days.

"We are very nervous because it is going up to the 70s and the bats that were frozen may decide they want to fly, and they may not have the capability. They may have had nerve damage from the freeze, so we are crossing our fingers that we are not inundated with bats tomorrow, but if we are, we are prepared for it. We have volunteers that will go out and scour the bridges," Mackenzie said.

According to the nonprofit, the bats will be released back to the bridges where they were found after their flight condition is assessed, and the bats that did not survive will be sent to labs for scientific research.

"We want to help as many as we can. We can't save them all. Many of them are dead from the freeze, but a lot of them can be helped, and we are all about trying to help them," Mackenzie said.