We had a carpenter friend over last weekend to help us with sagging plywood under a corner of our deck. We had thought that water might have entered there and were preparing for the worst. Dry as a bone under there (thank goodness) but what we DID find was this little fellow, attached to the inside of the plywood up snug against the insulation. He obviously had crawled under the sagging part to get inside and keep warm. He is hibernating (alive and well). We called Wild Arc (an agency affiliated with the SPCA that deals with wild animals) and they told us what to do - To move a hibernating bat safely, use a dustpan (bleach it afterwards) and if you have to touch him use thick leather gloves (dispose of them afterwards), because 1% of bats can carry rabies (very small chance but use caution still ...). Anyway, I took pictures of him first, before moving him safely to a small woodpile under our deck that won't be used this year. Funny thing is, we have found a bat in that woodpile years ago (obviously not the same one but it's a popular bat hotel, I suppose!) We were told to tuck him in to a safe sheltered spot and he will awaken now and again to go out to feed. Bats are such great little creatures and we felt honoured to find this guy.
