Sleeping Bat Sign — The Next Page, Calgary
Sleeping Bat Sign
The Next Page bookshop · 1217A 9 Avenue SE, Inglewood · Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Photo from Street Art Utopia’s archive, uploaded on 30 January 2025; no photographer is recorded. Full photograph shown.
In October 2021 a little brown bat chose the front door of The Next Page, an independent bookshop in Calgary’s Inglewood, for a nap. The shop left it there and taped up a handwritten note asking customers to open the door carefully, until a wildlife group took the bat in for the winter. CTV News Calgary · DiscoverAirdrie · AirdrieToday Checked
5 things to know
- Found while sweepingCo-owner Jeremy Shannon spotted the bat while sweeping the front entrance, CTV News Calgary reported. CTV News Calgary Reported
- The note on the doorThe shop’s handmade sign asked people to open the door carefully “as there is a bat sleeping on it”; the arrow in our photo points to the bat on the frame. CTV News Calgary Reported
- Too cold to flyThe Alberta Institute for Wildlife Conservation (AIWC) sent a volunteer because the bat was too cold to fly. Staff examined it and found it in good health. DiscoverAirdrie · Shelf Awareness Checked
- A little brown batThe species is the little brown myotis, also called the little brown bat; AirdrieToday puts its weight at about eight grams. CTV News Calgary · AirdrieToday · DiscoverAirdrie Checked The weight: Reported
- A winter at the hospitalThe bat was to stay at AIWC’s wildlife hospital near Madden over the winter and be released in spring. “He’ll be staying with us over the winter,” AIWC’s Rachel Swart told CTV. CTV News Calgary · DiscoverAirdrie · AirdrieToday Checked
Check-in guide
- 📍
- The Next Page, 1217A 9 Avenue SE, in Calgary’s Inglewood neighbourhood. Read Alberta Reported The shop is in Inglewood. CTV News Calgary Checked
- 🦇
- The bat is long gone: it went into AIWC’s care in October 2021, and the note had no reason to stay. CTV News Calgary · DiscoverAirdrie Checked
- 📚
- The bookshop itself is the reason to go; Read Alberta says it occupies a heritage building from 1912. Read Alberta Reported
Sightings
- 202112 Oct
CTV: bat rescued
- 202114 Oct
Shelf Awareness item
- 202116 Oct
Wintering at AIWC
All stamps are publication dates; we found no dated photograph. CTV published on 12 October 2021. Shelf Awareness retells CTV’s story, so it is not counted as a separate source. The red stamp marks the report that the bat would stay at AIWC until spring.
On the record
A guest for the winter
“He’ll be staying with us over the winter.”
Rachel Swart of the Alberta Institute for Wildlife Conservation, on the bat from the bookshop door.
Why it could not stay
“too cold to fly or even move”
How AIWC described the bat when it sent a volunteer to the shop.
The facts
- Work
- A handwritten note on the door of The Next Page asking customers to open it carefully because a bat was sleeping on it. CTV News Calgary · Shelf Awareness Checked
- Made by
- The bookshop; the note’s writer is not named in these sources. Unconfirmed
- Place
- The Next Page, Calgary. CTV News Calgary · DiscoverAirdrie · AirdrieToday Checked In Inglewood. CTV News Calgary · Read Alberta Checked Address 1217A 9 Avenue SE. Read Alberta Reported
- Date
- October 2021; CTV published on 12 October 2021. CTV News Calgary · Shelf Awareness · DiscoverAirdrie Checked
- Bat
- Little brown myotis (little brown bat). CTV News Calgary · AirdrieToday · DiscoverAirdrie Checked
- Rescuer
- Alberta Institute for Wildlife Conservation, near Madden. CTV News Calgary · DiscoverAirdrie · AirdrieToday Checked AirdrieToday says AIWC has operated since 1993; DiscoverAirdrie says it was founded in 1999. We lean towards 1993, because AIWC’s own About page says “Since 1993”. Conflicting
- Status
- Gone 2021: the bat was taken into AIWC’s care for the winter, to be released in spring. CTV News Calgary · DiscoverAirdrie · AirdrieToday Checked
- Photograph
- Street Art Utopia archive image uploaded on 30 January 2025, photographer and capture date not recorded. Unconfirmed
Related
- Canada Made Me Look Twice (12 Photos): the SAU collection that includes the bat sign.
- A Sleeping Bat at The Next Page Bookshop in Calgary Becomes an Unlikely Star: SAU’s earlier post with more photos.
- Halloween Dragon by Tom Saltsman: another doorstep surprise with its own Artwork File.
All sources (6)
News reports, October 2021
- CTV News Calgary: Calgary bookstore bat saved by Alberta wildlife group, Melissa Gilligan and Kevin Fleming, 12 October 2021. Jeremy Shannon, the sign, little brown myotis, AIWC and Rachel Swart’s quote.
- DiscoverAirdrie: A winter vacation at an animal rescue centre near Airdrie planned for little brown bat, Keith Leask, 16 October 2021. Too cold to fly, good health, winter at AIWC, release in spring, AIWC founded 1999.
- AirdrieToday: AIWC comes to the rescue of bat caught in cold snap, undated on the page. Little brown bat of about eight grams, release around May, AIWC operating since 1993.
- Shelf Awareness: Bookstore…Bat?…of the Day, 14 October 2021. Retells CTV’s report; not counted as a separate source.
The shop
- Read Alberta: The Next Page, bookstore profile. Address 1217A 9 Ave SE, Inglewood, heritage building from 1912.
Context
- AIWC: About us, the rescuer’s own page. Used to settle the founding year: “Since 1993”.
Artwork File · Last checked 15 October 2026 · Certainty labels follow How We Verify Art · All Artwork Files