February 26, 2021
John Flesher & Jamie Stengle
DALLAS (AP) As many people in the southern United States (US) hosted neighbours who had no heat or water during the vicious February storm and deep freeze, Kate Rugroden provided a refuge for shell-shocked bats.
Starving and disoriented, the winged mammals tumbled to the snow-coated ground as temperatures plunged to levels rarely seen in the region.
“They burned through their energy reserves as they tried to wake up and get away from the cold and ice,” said Rugroden, of Arlington, Texas, one of rehabilitation specialists nursing stranded bats plucked up by sympathetic people.
“And there aren’t any insects out there for them to eat yet.”