Rare bat hangs out in natty coat

ONE of Britain’s rarest bats has been discovered up the sleeve of a coat at an upmarket clothing store.

The mammal, identified as the elusive barbastelle bat, was discovered by stunned workers at a branch of Joules in Salisbury. The animal was taken to a vet but died within hours.

It was then identified and taken to the Natural History Museum in London, where it will go on display.

Museum staff have since named the mammal Joules.

Naomi Young, who found the bat, told the BBC: “I’d just brought some coats down from the stockroom and it was in with them. It scared the living daylights out of me. I thought it was a kid’s toy.

“We thought it was just a normal bat. We didn’t realise it was super rare until we had a call from a bat group saying it had been sent to the Natural History Museum.”

Steph West, from the museum, said the animal was a “valuable specimen” and “one of our rarest mammals”.

She said: “It’s only the 12th specimen of this species from the UK since 1879.

“The last one we had was in 1999 so it represents a very important addition to our UK mammals collections.”

The Wildlife Trust estimates there are only about 5,000 barbastelle bats left in the UK.