Texas Sanctuaries Accuse Mall Manager of Cruelty After Bats Die

Two Texas wildlife rescue groups have taken to social media to call out the alleged actions of Jason Moore, the Operations Manager of the Mall of Abilene. Both Bat World Sanctuary and Big Country Wildlife Rehabilitation Center have called the actions of Mr. Moore "cruel" and have claimed that they led to the preventable death of bats that had been sealed out of their roost.

He has used threats to kill bats and has already killed some. Because he sealed them in, many of the trapped bats, in trying to find a way out, have now ended up inside the mall where they are also in more danger of being killed by Mr. Moore. While we were there, Mr. Moore berated his employees as well as actual customers entering the mall. He was rude to everyone, us included, even though we did him a huge favor at no charge.

Judging from this version of events, the entire situation arose from Mr. Moore's actions, that is, sealing the bat's exits to their roost inside the mall. Apparently, he continued to make bad decisions in regard to the safety of the bats- and even the clientele of the mall. Of course, we only have this side of the story.

Well, one side with screenshots of a text conversation that contains a confession of killing at least two bats through negligence.

Bat World Sanctuary on Facebook

Big Country Wildlife Rehabilitation Center posted the text conversation that they claim took place between themselves and Mr. Moore, in which Mr. Moore admits to putting two bats into a box that he left in his truck. They of course died from heat exhaustion.

[BCWRC]“Why did you not call when you obtained them? An hour in this heat this is cruel and inhumane. I’ll be contacting the game warden.”

Jason “ Ok we are done. Don’t contact me again. Have a good day.”

According to Big Country News, the Mall has stated that they are utilizing, "other removal and pest control organizations" now to remove the bats.

While bats are federally protected, they can be legally killed if they occupy a building. It is, however, a terrible shame that any of them died, especially a cruel heat death. Bats are vital to our Texas ecosystem and are amazing predators of insect pests (read: mosquitos).

Since these posts have been shared, many people have left negative reviews on the Mall of Abliene's Facebook Page calling for Mr. Moore himself to be removed from the mall.