Earlier this week, Jason was pulled from his sleep by barking of a rare intensity. Worried, he tried to call his dog back inside, but to no avail. "My dog was going absolutely crazy outside, and I couldn't get her to come in," Jason told The Dodo. "So I went out to see what all the commotion was about."
It was at that moment the owner realised they weren't alone. Hanging upside down from the garden fence, its head stuck between two narrow bars, was a fruit bat (a giant bat, often called a "flying fox" in Australia). It was a complete surprise, especially at such an early hour.
A surprisingly calm intruder
While the dog was in a complete state, the nocturnal visitor, on the other hand, was utterly serene. "What surprised me most was how calm it seemed," explained Jason. "It looked perfectly happy just hanging there. From what I could see, it seemed healthy and not at all stressed."
Unsure if the animal was actually stuck or injured, Jason made the wise decision not to intervene himself and contacted the specialists at the local Fly By Night Bat Clinic.
Cuddled like a baby
Arriving quickly on the scene, the rescuers had one last surprise in store for Jason. The bat, which turned out to be a young one, wasn't actually stuck at all: it had simply chosen this unusual perch to rest.
"The rescuer was able to remove it gently and with surprising ease. She then cradled it against her chest like a baby, it was adorable," Jason shared. The young animal was taken to the centre for a check-up before being released back into the wild. For Jason, the workday started with quite a story: "It's not the kind of thing you expect to find in your garden before heading off to work. It gave me something to talk about at the water cooler for the rest of the day!"