Wildlife Conservation Australia Project #18444

Help Baby Bats Take Flight!

by Sydney Wildlife

Project Report | Aug 17, 2016
Freedom is sweeter than Honey

By Maryanne Large | Sydney Wildlife Volunteer

Freya, with her newborn son, Loki.

Hello again! and thank you to again for your generous support of our project. Work never stops, but winter is a quieter time, and we are now just gearing up for the next bat season.

Last week we moved the first bats back into our the aviary at Kukundi. Over winter, fewer bats come into care, but we do sometimes need to keep them in care longer. This way we avoid releasing animals when there is less food available, and gives them the best chance of success. But, as the weather warms up, we need to put them in an aviary so that they can begin to recover the flight fitness they need to survive in the wild.

One of the bats we kept in this winter was Freya. Freya had become caught in garden netting, and in care she developed a bacterial infection that proved to be resistant to antibiotics. This resistance - confirmed by lab tests- left her carers at a loss to know how to save her. The vet suggested an unusual treatment. Honey. Honey was applied to the affected area, and sure enough- it worked marvelously.

The good news didn't end there. Freya was pregnant, and shortly after the treatment gave birth to a heathy baby boy, Loki. Her carer was able to take this photo just after he was born. It's a unique privelage to see a bat give birth. They have to do upside down (for them- ie the head on top). Surely birth is hard enough, without doing it up a tree suspeded by your thumbs! You can see Loki clinging to his mum in the photo.

Freya and Loki have both done extremely well. But we needed to be sure they are up to the next stage.

A bat in a restricted space isn't really able show whow well it can fly. In the wild, flying foxes really are athletes- they travel up to 50kms per night to forage. Before we release them, we need to be sure that they are flight fit. The first thing we do when bats like Freya come into the aviary is a flight test- its the first real indication we get as to how well they have recovered, and their long term prospects.

Fortunately Freya did just fine. She's taken her first flaps back to towards the wild.

Freedom is even sweeter than honey!

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May 18, 2016
End of season thoughts

By Maryanne Large | Sydney Wildlife Volunteer

Jarrah was rescued from powerlines this week.

Winter is finally coming to Sydney- it's been unseasonably warm all April, and hasn't really felt like the end of season. But it is. The creche cage is finally empty- we had 89 pups this year, all grey headed flying foxes. Most of them were released into the local colony in Gordon, while 3 had to be taken North to Coff's Harbour. They were needed a bit more time to be release-ready. By the time they were, most of the main colony had moved on. Sometimes its easy to forget that naturally flying foxes are nomadic, and only stay long periods in one location because we have reduced their habitat so much.

This year wasn't the worst that we have endured, but certainly wasn't the best either. While there were no heat stress events in Sydney this season, there were some days that were close. We were able to put our heat stress training to use, and rather than intervene immediately, kept the "at risk" colonies under surveillance. We worked in shifts, and cooperated closely with other wildlife rescue groups. We also equiped the branches with new sprayers, so that in case they were needed, we could cool the bats down efficiently. This is one of the ways that we aim to improve our care, even as climate change makes these events more common.

There was a bat heat stress event on the central coast this season, and a number of our carers went to help. They came back with car-loads of bats, that we cared for for the rest of the season. The unusual drama this year was that some of the bats in that colony turned out to test positive for ABLV. Fortunately none of the ones that came to Kukundi, but it was a timely reminder to remain careful and up to date with vaccinations. ABLV is very uncommon, but it can happen, and we need to be constantly aware.

Another threat this year came in the form of a hungry goanna. A 1.5 m goanna loitered for a while near the release case in Gordon. We reinforced the cage to make sure that he stayed hungry. He did. And finally moved off, no doubt rather annoyed.

Now the season has ended, the numbers of bats coming into care now is quite low. But there are still some, like Jarrah (pictured) who was rescued from powerlines this week.

There is always work to do, and we are lucky to have a great group of dedicated volunteers.

But equally vital our our supporters. This year I was stunned by the generosity of a couple of of donors, who have made repeated donations to help. I can't emphasise how much I appreciate your support. It is much more than just the money, its also knowing that there are other people out there who care, and share our entirely rational but maybe-sometimes-a-little-bit-bonkers obsession with bats.

We are very honoured and appreciative to have you on board supporting this vital but vulnerable keystone species.

Thank you!

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Feb 16, 2016
The creatures of Kukundi!

By Maryanne Large | Bat slave.

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