by Caitlin Kenney

On Wednesday night, I went with Bill Chappell to Fort Marcy Park in Fairfax, Virginia, for the release of his beloved Bat Mitzvah.

For the last five months, Bat Mitzvah had been living the good life under the care of bat rehabilitator Leslie Sturges with all the mealworms and darkness a little bat could want, but the time had come for her to fly home.

For me, watching her disappear into the darkness was a little sad, but Leslie didn't feel that way at all.

"The wonderful thing about rehab is to have a wild creature share your life for a little bit and then go finish being wild," she said. "You know, our interest is not in keeping them — it is in helping them go on. All these wild animals are up against such pressure from people right now that any little thing we can do to help them live a healthy life we feel like we kind of owe it to them."

She sounded just a like a proud mother.