Volunteer Opportunities

Thank you for your interest in volunteering with Arizona Bat Rescue! There are both in-person and remote volunteer opportunities. These will be updated as needs change. 
Volunteering with me does not allow you to rescue, rehab, or care for bats on your own and everything you do under our supervision is at your own risk. 

Easy Ways to Help on Your Own

• Share Socials, Website, Campaigns and Events It may not seem like a huge help to share socials and the website but this is how people find Arizona Bat Rescue. So many finders tell us that they called a ton of places before finally getting our number. We've had rescues come through from Instagram and Facebook as well as from the website.  We get referrals from local wildlife clinics and the Bat World and Arizona Game & Fish website but it isn't enough. The more people we can tell about Arizona Bat Rescue, the better the chances are that a bat in need will find its way here. Sharing donation campaigns helps to support Arizona Bat Rescue and get the word out.
  
  Instagram  @azbatrescue
  Tiktok  @azbatrescue
  Twitter @azbatrescue
  Facebook group AZ Bat Rescue
  Facebook page AZ Bat Rescue
  
  Amazon Gift Registry
  Fry's Community Rewards In Arizona, choose Arizona Bat Rescue as your charity and earn money for the bats at no cost to you while you shop at Fry's stores!
  Donations

• Teach people about bats and share cute pictures Everyone you meet gives you a chance to let people know how important, helpful and adorable bats are. Share cute pictures of them. We can't even tell you how many people have told us they don't like bats or are scared of them until we show them super cute pictures. (Canyon bats are especially good for this since they are so teeny). 

Let people know they can help bats in many easy ways

• Don't trim trees May - September if possible, especially palm trees. Several species of bats use them for maternity roosts.

• Plant native plants to support bats and their insect prey.

• Use as few pesticides as possible.

• Research getting a bat house. This isn't very successful in some areas, feel free to give them my contact info if they'd like to talk about putting up a bat house where they are.

• Explain that less than 1% of bats have rabies but it is still always important to use gloves or other protection when handling any kind of wildlife.

• Tell them Arizona has 28 species of bats. The only state in the U.S. with more is Texas. 

• Bats eat bugs we don't like and pollinate plants we do. In Arizona they are important pollinators of cactuses, agave (which makes tequila), and more. Worldwide bats pollinate plants such as banana and cacao (for chocolate).

• Dispel myths about bats when people say them. People in general aren't anti-bat per se, they often just don't know that what they've heard isn't true.  Responses to some common myths: Bats aren't blind, they don't try to get into your hair, bats aren't vampires (only 3 species drink blood and none of them live in North America), bats don't attack people, they don't all have rabies (in fact they aren't even the leading transmitter of rabies to humans). 

Arizona Bat Rescue Volunteer Opportunities: Local

• Transport of contained bats from rescue site to AZBR (Training required but can be done remotely).
  Many times finders can bring bats to us but not always. If you would like to be on the transport team, you wouldn't have any particular time or schedule commitment. You would only be agreeing to being asked if you are free to travel when the need arises. This could be once a month or several times a week. We will send out a group text and you can say yes or no depending on your availability. There's no obligation to say yes to continue to be on the team. 

• Vendors If you or anyone you know might be able to give AZ Bat Rescue a break on costs for printing, feeding supplies, housing supplies, etc, please give us their contact info so we can check with them to see if they want to help out. 

• Hands-on bat care You must have completed the full cycle of rabies pre-exposure shots in order to do any hands-on care.  Please fill out the volunteer form with the dates of your shots and the last time you had your titers checked.

It's important to note that rehab involves difficult situations, bats in pain, and death. Sometimes a bat will die, or need to be humanely euthanized. You won't be making medical decisions or doing euthanasia but be aware that rehab can be very hard and very sad. 

Arizona Bat Rescue Volunteer Opportunities: Remote

• Contacts for Arizona Bat Rescue Services We are constantly talking to people about Arizona Bat Rescue and giving our info to anyone who might encounter bats in need. Tell people you know about us and if there is a particular business or person you think might want or need extra information, we can send them introductory emails and post cards. There's also a list of pest control companies, wildlife centers, and parks in progress. We need help getting contact information collected and into the list so we can reach out. We are open to any suggestions about other kinds of businesses or organizations that may need to know about Arizona Bat Rescue.

• Social Media and Website Management & Optimization: We're always looking for ways to reach more people. If you have social media or website thoughts, please let us know. 

• Merch Design & Ideas We're always looking for ideas or art for shirts, stickers, and other merch. We can talk about how you would like to be credited and profit sharing for content produced. Please send samples of your work if this is something you'd like to be involved in. You will always retain all rights to your artwork and can revoke its use at any time.

• Events Let us know about any events that Arizona Bat Rescue might fit in with. We've done museum drop in days, Bat nights, local  Halloween enthusiast groups, homeschool student group field trips, etc. Other possible events would be things like oddities fairs, pretty much anything Halloween, nature or science education, etc. Also looking for opportunities to give "Bat Talks" to educate the public about bats.