Animals in the City

A city is the home for a big number of animals.
You'll see birds, not just in the sky:

And if you look close, you can find beetles in the underground:
And if you are awake at 2am on a damp, hot summer night in the city, chances are, that you might be a lifesaver. The moment the bat loses its orientation in the appartment.
It entered through the open kitchen window, crossed the hallway and circledabove my head, under the ceiling of the living room.

No, it is NOT nice, having any wild creature in your appartment on the 5th floor, at any time of the day. And this is NOT because I am afraid of the animals but because I feel so terrible, terrible sorry when they hurt themselves. I can't stand that at all. :(
That's why there was no camera around the moment the small cutie flapped down to the floor and did not move any more.

Reference picture: Bat to the left resembles the bat on the floor of Paula's appartment at 2am

All I could think of was "please please please little bat, do NOT move, I am going to get you out of this miserable situation called my appartment.
Rushed to the kitchen, reacting like I react when I encounter grasshoppers and huge spiders in my appartment: picking a plastic dish plus lid.
Rushed back the living room, fearing it might be seriously hurt. The poor little thing obviously lost its orientation after entering the appartment and capitulated in my reading corner. Usually the echo helps them out.

I put the dish over the bat and closed the dish loosely with the lid - not too firm because one wing was stuck between dish and lid and the bat started flapping.

Then came the moment of truth. (I had the deja vue: I once picked up a bird in the stairway, it was laying in front of my door, injured and died on the way to the vet-doctor, you can tell I am traumatized by injured animals who don't belong in a appartment-building)

Would the bat fly or drop dead, 5 storeys ?

Off the lid - and - - - hurray! The cute litte bat flew into the nightskies. Not much later and I could hear the squeaks in the air. Finally, orientation worked again! After this unexpected action I closed all the windows - at 90° F.

Just in case you wonder: YES, bats are very very cute. Especially when you encounter them one by one and not like Bruce Wayne down in the cave by hundreds.

THIS bat looks nothing like a bat and isn't cute at all:

Why did the bat fly into my appartment now and not once during the 15 years I spent there.
I have been decluttering the place before and after renovating it. As a consequence I find plenty of voids on the appartment. Before, the appartment had been packed, less void and - less frequented by bats.

Just in case you encounter a bat where it does not belong to:
bats like it cosy, cuddly (if only I knew this before). So the next time I would rather put it in my hands instead of a dish and cover it with my warm and tender hands.


mmmh. cute little bat. Please stay away from appartments, no matter how void they might seem.