Found a bat on the ground? Don't touch it with bare hands — here's why

If you've found a bat on the ground during the day, motionless or struggling to fly, that's not a good sign. Bats only come out at night — when they find a roost, they stay there until dark. One that's visible in daylight almost certainly has something wrong.

The most important thing to know before you do anything else: don't touch it with bare hands.

Why the risk exists — but there's no need to panic

In Europe, bats can carry European Bat Lyssavirus (EBLV), a virus from the same family as rabies. Human transmission cases are extremely rare — there have been very few across Europe in recent decades — but transmission is possible through a bite or scratch, even a small one.

The real risk is manageable with simple precautions. There's no need to call the fire brigade in a panic: just do things in the right order.

How to pick it up

Don't use your hands. You have two options:

With a thick cloth: take a towel or double layer of fabric and gently collect it, covering the animal from above without squeezing. Bats bite when they feel threatened — that's normal, not aggression.

With a box: gently place a cardboard box over the animal, then slide a rigid sheet underneath to close it. Make a few ventilation holes in the lid first.

Use latex, kitchen or work gloves. If you don't have any, use several layers of fabric. A face covering isn't essential but is sensible.

Once it's in the box, put it somewhere quiet, out of direct sunlight, at room temperature. Don't put water in the box, don't try to feed it (it's insectivorous and its diet can't be replicated at home), don't put it under a heat lamp.

What not to do

Don't release it during the day, even if it seems to have recovered. A bat released in daylight is disoriented, can't find its roost, and is vulnerable to cats, crows and other predators. If it had simply been locked out of its colony, wait for dark and release it near a wall or tree — but only if you haven't noticed any injuries or abnormal behaviour.

Don't try to give it food or water yourself. Don't put it in a birdcage — the bars damage the wing membranes, which don't repair easily.

Contact a rescue centre that specialises in bats (chiroptera)

Not all wildlife rescue centres deal with bats: they require specific expertise and dedicated equipment. Use WildSOS to find the nearest centre that accepts them — some also have phone contacts available in the evening, which is usually when calls come in.

If you've been bitten or scratched, even superficially, go to accident and emergency. Not out of alarmism: post-exposure protocols exist and are effective if started promptly. The doctor will know what to do.

Something worth knowing

A bat emits ultrasound up to 100 kHz — almost five times beyond the limit of human hearing — and using the returning echo it can detect an object one millimetre wide in flight. It is perhaps the most precise biological sensory system that exists.

Females give birth to just one pup per year and nurse it for 4–6 weeks. A common pipistrelle (the most widespread species in Italy) eats up to 3,000 mosquitoes in a single night. Having a colony under your roof tiles is — ecologically speaking — a privilege.

Legal protection

All Italian bats are protected under the Habitats Directive (Annex IV), which classifies them as species of European Community interest requiring strict protection. In Italy this means an absolute ban on capturing, keeping, disturbing or removing their roosts — including those in private buildings.

If you discover a colony during building work, you cannot remove it or wall it in: you are legally required to involve a competent authority. Intentional disturbance of a colony is a criminal offence under Law 157/1992 and Legislative Decree 357/1997.