Mastering the Bat

Ferenga's rehabilitation will start soon. She's already hanging and she's met Knox's fourth-grade environmental-education class. The students are crafting a pamphlet urging people who may have bats in their belfries to take some sensible precautions: Make sure chimneys are bat-free before lighting fires, and if you must pick up a bat, do so gently, using a towel.

Bat rescuer Luzandra Diaz is disturbed at the savage nature of her own species. She believes Ferenga might have been prostrate for hours on the sidewalk in front of Sears. "All these people were coming by and poking it. If I were a bat, that wouldn't make me very happy," she exclaims. "It was cruel."

kirk_nielsen@miaminewtimes.com