Do you remember the days of taking your
precious roll of film to be developed? Did you spend the extra £££ for an
hour’s developing or were you able to wait the three days to see what you had
captured?
Oh! gone are those days; I remember the
thrill of opening the paper wallet in the shop, like Charlie Bucket carefully
unwrapping the Wonka Bar – how many photos would be in focus? How many would
have been graffitied by the developer with a sticker saying it was over exposed
or suchlike? And had you got away with accidentally opening the back of the
camera before the film had rewound?
Then there would be the hours spent first
showing all your friends and family the photos (“don’t put your fingers on the
image, Grandpa, please”) followed by carefully placing your treasured images
into an album, editing the best and writing a caption, “If only I had
remembered to put the flash on” or “in the distance you can see…”
I remember the first time I saw a digital
camera being used, I thought I would never use one because it would spoil the
excitement of waiting to see what you had captured! Also, I thought the images
would be so grainy they would be like the old Disc Cameras (remember them?!).
My first digital camera was actually a
Nokia mobile phone – it boasted a 10 megapixel camera, and I happily filled its
memory with random images – none of which, had I taken them with my trusty old
point-and-click, would’ve made it past the album cutting-room floor!
After a very short time the novelty of
printing out every image petered out, and my albums fell into a dusty
retirement.
With the age of the smartphone came social media
– somewhere for you to post every image you like for all your friends and
complete strangers to look at and critique!
So
where do bats come into this do I hear you ask?
“In the United Kingdom it is an offence to
intentionally disturb bats or their roosts and this includes any photography
without an appropriate license. As a licenced batworker / bat carer I have
always exercised extreme caution when photographing bats out on surveys, and
have never once used a flash. But then I wonder: should I share the
photographs? If I do, who’s to say that unlicenced or untrained people will
think it’s ok to start “papping” bats too?
With the ease of snapping just about
everything thanks to smartphones, together with the recent flood of social
media sites purely for sharing photographs (Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat, etc.),
it is inevitable that unsuspecting members of the public across the world will
happily share photos they have taken of bats: bats on walls, bats on the
ground, bats in their natural habitat. And who wouldn’t? How many people
actually get the chance to get up close and personal with a bat?
Many of these images (in the UK and further afield)
come from people who have found the bat during the daytime and need some advice
or identification, and so have taken to social media for assistance – something
the Bat Conservation Trust is excellent
at responding to in a timely fashion.
And then there are the sad images I have
found whilst searching #bat on sites such as Instagram – most recently a
horrific photo from the US of a bat trapped in a toilet bowl, and a vitriolic
comment saying they had “flushed the beast back to the depths of hell where it
belonged”.
So, for me, there will be no more searching
for bat-related images on such sites, as it only makes me cross to see images
and statements like that – no matter how ignorant the user.
But as a bat carer I want to spread bat
knowledge far and wide, and I do photograph every rescue which comes into my
care, although I don’t photograph deceased animals or animals with terminal
injuries, as I find them distressing enough to deal with.
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| Rescued soprano and common pipistrelle (photo by Liz Vinson) |
How
to transmit these images safely in social media terms?
I am often asked whether bats bite, and I
say that we always recommend anyone rescuing a bat wears gloves or at least
wraps the animal in a tea towel. If asked, I confirm that I cannot recall ever being
bitten by a bat that had come into my care – which is the truth. However, these
are wild animals and if they feel threatened they may act like it, hence the
necessity for gloves or other protection.
I was trained never to handle without
gloves, even if they were long term care bats, and, although it can make things
a bit tricky, I manage. I was also told to never publish any photographs of
bats in the hand unless I was wearing gloves.
 |
| Rescued brown long-eared bat (Photo by Liz Vinson) |
 |
| Rescued Common pipistrelle and pup (Photo by Liz Vinson) |
Even if the person handling bats in a photo
is trained and vaccinated, publishing pictures of them holding bats in un-gloved
hands gives members of the public a clouded view of what is safe and
recommended. I understand that batworkers wish to show that bats are not
threatening, but would simply popping on a pair of gloves really undermine that
message?
I find that white cotton gloves, which are
available from most good pharmacies, are ideal a. for handling the smaller
species and b. for photography purposes. (Although having said that, I have usually
just been feeding the bat when I take a photo, and nine times out of ten I have
the remnants of their supper somewhere visible on my gloves.) I also like to
wrap bats in a soft cloth as it makes them more secure and less wriggly –
something every bat carer dreads whilst trying to hand-feed the insides of
mealworms to a tiny pipistrelle!
For larger species, such as serotines, I
would not recommend anything thinner than a good gardening glove! Cumbersome as
they are, I would not want to run the risk of having the bat’s jaw clamped onto
my little finger, all for the sake of a good photo!
The
pen is mightier than the sword
Almost more important than the image (of a
bat in a gloved hand) which you post are the words that you choose.
Put a little statement about the bat, what
species, why you have it and what people can do to help if they find a grounded
bat.
Choose
your #’s wisely!
If they’re not already there, consider
adding the hashtags #licencedbatworker and/or #trainedbatcarer to your bio on
social media sites. Other useful hashtags are #batsneedfriends,
#batconservation, #batcare, #notapet and #protectedspecies.
Tag your local bat group and BCT so that
they can like and share your image, helping to spread bat awareness.
And finally try to respond to any comments
you may receive, especially those that ask if the bat is a pet!! – I have seen
many comments on bat images on social media like “oh I want one” “I need a pet
bat” “where can I get one?” and the original poster hasn’t replied at all.
So we can all do our bit for bat
conservation awareness on social media, in a manner which should be the norm. It
would be extremely detrimental to bat conservation if a member of the public
picked up a bat, was bitten and tragically contracted rabies, and then pointed
the finger at a bat carer who shared lots of images of bats in un-gloved hands.
Food for thought…
Finally, returning to where I started –
film canisters – now there was a useful piece of equipment to take on a roost
survey for bat poo sample collection!
Gone are the days….
Liz Vinson
VBRV and registered Bat Carer
Self-employed marketing and social media
manager
For more information about how to get involved with Bat Rehabilitation: http://www.bats.org.uk/pages/batcare.html
For more information about the importance of wearing gloves when handling bats see: http://www.bats.org.uk/publications_download.php/1352/Wearing_gloves_when_you_handle_bats_2017.pdf
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