A group of Christian Hall residents had an unexpected encounter with a little brown bat in the second-floor fishbowl study lounge on the evening of Sept. 2.
The bat was safely captured by a student and campus police officer before being released to the outdoors.
Three students were studying in the fishbowl when a bat was spotted flying near the ceiling. A Residence Life staff member responded to the incident before campus police sent Sgt. Paul Little to the scene.
Senior Maria Ernst received a text message from one of her friends about a bat flying around in the fishbowl.
“I thought my friend was pulling a prank on me until I came upstairs to a bat flapping its wings in the study room — it was like a bat exhibit,” said Ernst.
“We survived while trying to run inside to grab our study materials: no bite, no scratch and no fear.”
Senior Nico Nuzzo walked past the fishbowl as Little was trying to secure the Myotis lucifugus.
“I was walking out of my dorm room and saw a group of people outside of the fishbowl, so I asked what was going on,” said Nuzzo.
“The spectators told me that there was a bat, and then I saw a campus police officer standing with a net inside the fishbowl, so I asked him if he needed any assistance.”
Nuzzo took the net and headed toward a wooden closet where the bat was last spotted.
“I found the bat in the closet and gently poked it with the net to get it to ground level, but at that point the bat went into defense mode,” said the senior Communications major.
“When the bat fell, it was giving me some difficulties: making noises, hissing, freaking out and clutching its wings and claws onto the floor. I had to first lift the net, and then I love tapped the bat so that it went into the net.”
After Nuzzo secured the bat in the net, students who had assembled to watch the rescue mission cheered.
“The campus police officer and I fist-bumped, told the spectators that everything was O.K., and then my roommate, the campus police officer and I released the bat into the wilderness outside of Christian Hall,” said the New Castle native.
“It was very entertaining,” said Ellen Kennedy, a Christian Hall resident who watched the catch-and-release play out.
“When the campus police officer first went into the fishbowl, he was waiting for the bat to come toward him, but the bat was flying around everywhere and landing in different corners of the room.”
“It was chaotic,” said another spectator. “I heard a lot of noise while in my dorm room, so I decided to come outside. There was a huge crowd and the bat was flying in circles and banging into the glass.
“It made my Saturday night a bit more interesting.”
The crowd that assembled in Christian for the bat rescue acknowledged the work of Nuzzo and Little.
“We all clapped and cheered once they caught the bat,” said Ernst. “Christian Hall was in the clear.”
No students were harmed or bitten by the bat, which was believed to have entered the fishbowl through an air vent.
“That was my first time catching a bat,” said Nuzzo. “I have been hit by bats before while fishing at night, but I never actually caught one.”
