Why a Ukrainian zoologist risked his life to save 1,000 bats from a bat collider

A Ukrainian zoologist and his team risked their lives to save hundreds of bats from the so-called bat clash in Kharkiv, after Russia invaded the country last year.

“Kharkiv is very close [the] The Russian border and, right from our office window, we saw the smoke of burning Russian tanks on the northern edge of the city,” said Anton Vlashenko, director of the Ukrainian Bat Rehabilitation Center.

“We have guns, there are also machine guns… [but] it is our responsibility to save these creatures,” he said Now Matt Galloway.

The bat collider is a circular tunnel of almost 20 meters, which can accommodate up to 3,000 bats flying freely. It was built in a forest area near Feldman Ecopark, a zoo in Kharviv. It hosts bats during winter hibernation, and conservationists use it to help injured or infant bats learn to fly.

WATCH | Inside the ‘bat collider’ in Kharkiv: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJilAZHjCr4

A large number of bats have been moved there before the war started last February 24. When the Russians attacked, Vlashenko and his team could not replenish food and water in the collision, due to the violent distance. (Zoo officials claimed last April that two employees, who stayed to feed the animals, were shot dead by Russian soldiers in the early weeks of the war).

Despite the challenge, Vlashenko refused to leave the animal dead. He and his team reached the crash site in late March, and managed to rescue 1,000 bats in what he described as “a very, very long day.”

Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, endured months of attacks before Russian forces were pushed out of artillery range late last summer. When Vlashenko spoke to Nowhe said it was relatively peaceful, with consistent electricity and no rocket attacks for several days.

He sees his work as “more than a bat.”

“This is our contribution to the general resistance,” he said. He sees other Ukrainians also trying to continue their lives and professions, as close to normality as possible.

“We [are] all together keep our country alive.”

The secret life of bats

Vlashenko has been working with bats for 20 years, first becoming interested in the university.

“For me, it’s a challenge worth taking on [the] forest to find a roost and know how to survive,” he said.

The encounter helped unravel the mystery of bats, which can be “20, 30-year-old creatures with a lot of knowledge in their little brains,” he said.

Before the war, his organization saved bats and helped them survive the harsh Kharkiv winter. They capture up to 3,000 bats a year, putting them in special freezers to induce hibernation. Bats are monitored throughout the winter, and fed as needed, before being released in the spring.

The war made the work even more difficult, with power outages in much of Ukraine. Bats also fly through broken windows into damaged buildings, but become trapped and unable to get back out.

“They just died of hunger,” Vlashenko said.

His team of conservationists went from building to building to rescue the bats, and put them safely in hibernation gear. As the war dragged on and the winter wore on, he had taken care of several bats in his own home, even putting them in cloth bags in his own refrigerator, to induce hibernation.

Biological weapons charges

Last March, conservationists were accused of developing biological weapons by Russian military officials.

Russia claims that Ukraine and the US are conducting joint military biological research, involving samples of bat parasites.

“They stated that it was like 140 containers with evil parasites that would be distributed everywhere in Russia, and attack Russian soldiers,” said Vlashenko.

In November, the UN Security Council rejected Russia’s attempt to establish a commission to investigate the claims, with Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the US ambassador to the United Nations, describing the claims as a “disinformation campaign” to derail the war.

Vlashenko said the allegations were “fairy tales”. The container was there, but it was a sample of the parasite stored in ethanol, and there was no risk to anyone, he said.

While in some respects he found the allegations laughable, he also worried that if the Russians captured Kharkiv, he and his team could be interrogated or even tortured.

His mother had asked him if he could leave Kharkiv for his own safety, but he refused to leave his work, calling the idea of ​​running away “his biggest nightmare.”

“Imagine if we just left it and all these bats died in that refrigerator, without electricity,” he said.

“I can’t imagine. We have a responsibility to these creatures.”