Mary Warwick, wildlife director for the Houston Humane Society, holds a Mexican free-tailed bat as it recovers from last week’s freeze on Tuesday, Dec. 27, 2022 in Houston. The freezing temperatures caused the bats to go into hypothermic shock, lose their grip on their habitat and fall to the ground. Over 1500 bats were rescued from the Waugh Street Bridge and in Pearland since Friday. The public is welcome to watch them release almost 700 of bats on Wednesday at 5:30 at Waugh Street Bridge in Houston. (Elizabeth Conley/Houston Chronicle via AP)

HOUSTON (AP) — Texas wildlife officials say hundreds of bats lost their grip and plunged to the pavement underneath a bridge in Houston after going into hypothermic shock during the state’s recent cold snap. The Houston Humane Society said in a Facebook video that rescuers were able to save them by administering fluids and keeping them warm in incubators. Mary Warwick is director of the humane society’s Texas Wildlife Rehabiliation Center. She says nearly 700 of an estimated 1,500 bats rescued in the Houston area during last week’s frigid temperatures are set to be released back into the wild on Wednesday.