I know that his name is a reference to the MERL, and obviously the wizard, but I also hope that it is a deliberate reference to leading bat expert Merlin Tuttle.
This is cute and all but SERIOUSLY DON’T EVER HANDLE A BAT LIKE THIS!
Why? RABIES. One of the most deadly illnesses known to mankind that has a 99.99% death rate once symptoms begin to show.
Bat teeth are so small and sharp that people often don’t realize they’ve been bitten. If you ever have a bat touch your bare skin and you weren’t watching its mouth closely 100% of the time then you need to go get rabies shots (heck, I would go get the shots even if I was watching it’s mouth the whole time).
Rabies is not something to mess around with. IT IS NOT WORTH THE RISK.
This is in Britain, where we don’t have rabies, probably explaining the lack of gloves. Rabies is serious business and bats are horribly good at transmitting it.
But even though we are rabies free, bats are like, virus central and at least one species of bat (Daubenton’s) carries a potentially fatal rabies-like virus called European Bat lyssavirus 2 that’s lead to one know fatality.
