Some flinched. Some ducked under their desks. Others chuckled. One take-charge guy grabbed some papers and tried to save the day by shooing it out of the room. A Sudbury Zoning Board meeting last Wednesday night turned frantic when a bat flew in. More than a dozen people were in the room at the time. “It was a little weird to be having a bat flying around our meeting,” said board member Jonathan Gossels. He said some members “chased it with folders to try to herd it out the door,” and the bat flew into the hallway.

Video of the meeting posted by SudburyTV showed one board member apparently ushering the bat out of a door. But the small mammal made a second appearance just as members of the board were adjourning their meeting, Gossels said. “Somehow it came back and we’re not sure how that happened,” Gossels said. Gossels said he thinks the animal eventually flew out the front door. He said animal control was not called.