Distressed

I've never met a bat in this way before.

I was returning home late and just a few minutes after tripping over a hedgehog I noticed this bat scrabbling around on the pavement, squealing and seemingly unable to fly. While I have the confidence to act in the case of distressed hedgehogs, I was very uncertain about how to handle this bat. Indeed handling a bat soon revealed itself to carry its own risks when a sharp nip to my finger evoked half-remembered information about some bats carrying rabies. My skin wasn't broken, and I thought best not to try to repeat the exercise. I had hoped to at least put it out of the way of cats and/or cars but the less certain I was the more likely it was that my interventions were adding to the distress. So I walked away, sharing the bat's distress.

The following morning there was no sign of the bat. Instead, a dead mouse in the same spot.

I've now had a chance to look up what I should have done. I'll know next time.