A bat was saved from a difficult ordeal after a depot worker found it near a busy County Durham road.

Meat Loaf, a female whiskered bat, was found grounded by Craig Heywood, a maintenance worker at the National Highways Carrville Depot, close to the A1(M) near Durham.

The bat endured a hellish ordeal, having become dehydrated due to the hot weather, before coming out the other side thanks to Mr Heywood's intervention.

Mr Heywood, a contractor for CHC Highways, contacted the Highways environment team who ensured Meat Loaf came into the care of a bat specialist.

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Georgina Page, National Highways environment team manager for the North East, said: “She was out in the open only a foot off the ground and was unable to fly. She then fell off the wall and was struggling.

"Our CHC Highways maintenance manager placed her in a shoe box with some tissue and a small milk bottle lid of water to help her rehydrate and left her at the traffic officer outstation. 

“I then called the Bat Conservation Trust helpline who identified a bat carer in the area who could come and collect them.

"They were there within an hour and took the bat to care for her. We’re hopeful she was just dehydrated from the warmer weather we’ve had recently, and after a couple of days in care rehydrating and being fed, she was released back into the wild around Carrville.

“They are not as common as the usual species we see, such as common pipistrelles.”

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Ms Page urged those who find bats suffering from the heat to not attempt to rehabilitate them by themselves.

She said this is because people who handle bats are professionally trained and vaccinated to safely rehabilitate them.

She added bats should not be handled without gloves and only when there is an emergency.

If you find an injured or grounded bat you should call the National Bat Helpline, run by the Bat Conservation Trust.

Dr Joe Nunez-Mino, Director of Communications & Fundraising at the Trust, said: "The National Bat Helpline helps thousands of bats that get into trouble every year.

"The helpline is only possible thanks to the generosity of our donors as well as the trained volunteers who answer the bat care calls and the volunteer bat rehabilitators.

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“It is good to hear that the advice on our website was followed and this bat received the help it needed. Bats should only be handled by trained and appropriately vaccinated bat carers like those we work with on the bat care network.

"In an emergency, if you have to contain a bat you should always wear gloves due to the small risk of rabies transmission.”

Contact 0345 1300 228 to arrange for a bat carer to safely collect the bat and rehabilitate it for release. You can also visit here.