A family who tried to find the sort of annoying squeak in their rented apartment were stunned to find that more than 500 bats were living inside the wall.

The family, who have not been named, had rented the apartment just two days earlier, when they heard the squeaking and after checking the heating and everything else they could think of, they eventually called the emergency services in Bender, located in the pro-Russian Transnistria region of Moldova.

The footage shows a rescuer holding a bat in his hands and as the camera span moves, a nest of bats can be seen inside the wall.

The rescuers can be seen taking the animals one by one and placing them inside a white bag.

The animals were in a state of hibernation and as a result were not active and easier to catch, according to officials.

State Unitary Enterprise for Emergency Situations Transnistria said in a statement obtained by Newsflash on Wednesday, 6th December: “On 5th December, a married couple reported an unusual discovery in their apartment to the duty officer of the emergency rescue unit.

“The young people rented an apartment in one of the residential areas of Bender. On the second day, they heard an unpleasant squeak on the balcony and turned to rescuers for help.

“When employees of the State Emergency Situations Directorate opened the wooden panels that lined the balcony and floorboards, they found about 500 bats there. The animals were already hibernating and were not very active.

“Rescuers collected the entire colony in bags and boxes and took them outside the city to their natural habitat.”