Help Baby Bats Take Flight!

Another pup season is well underway. It started quietly this year, and so far, has continued that way. In his report I thought I would give you a run down on the pups that we have in care now. 

Pup 1 Luna:

Luna came into care on 2 October. She was found on the ground in a local neighbour’s backyard, with no injuries. The night before had been quite windy, so it’s possible that this was what had caused her to fall off mum. Luna was 3 weeks old when we picked her up. This was quire surprising as a count back to her birth date put her being born early September, which is quite early. Luna started on 5 milks feed a day and along with lots of cuddles, she has grown into a well-adjusted pup. As she was an ‘early’ pup, Luna was sent up north at 10 weeks old to finish off the last 2 weeks of her hand rearing and to go into crèche, prior to release. Bat pup creche is an important part of getting pups ready for release – they start to dehumanize and at the end they are quite feisty and bitey – ready for release into the wild.

Pup 2 Maggie:

Maggie was also rescued from our local neighbourhood at 3 weeks old. She was called in to the rescue phones on 15 October by worker at a factory - adult flying-fox on the ground with a live baby. Maggie had obviously been on mum for a day or so as both were covered in maggots. I can handle most things, but maggots give me the creeps! Maggie was very dehydrated as well. My daughter, Lauren, took on the care of Maggie. First up she had subcutaneous fluids, some glucose on the gums and a warm bath to get rid of the bulk of the maggots. She was quite unwell for some time as the maggots had got into places that they shouldn’t have, including eating a hole under her right wing-pit. Every time Lauren went to feed her she would wonder if Maggie was still alive. Slowly, over time, she improved and is now a now a healthy, thriving 10-week-old pup who is starting to wean off a milk diet and transition to a fruit diet. Maggie is a sweet and well-adjusted pup, and all credit to Lauren for her dedication in raising her.

Pup 3 Maisy:

Maisy came into care on 17 October at 3 weeks old. Mum had been caught on a barbed wire fence and unfortunately had done considerable damage to herself struggling to get free. Fortunately, Maisy was unharmed. She has been an easy pup to raise – she sleeps, eats and feeds, loves cuddles and is not too fussed about anything. The only time she has been unsettled was when she took her first flight – I think she gave herself a fright. That didn’t last for long however, and she continues to practice her flying skills nightly. She is also 10 weeks old and is transitioning to a full fruit diet and the occasional eucalyptus blossom (when we can find it).

Both Maggie and Maisy spend most of their nighttime adventuring around the enclosure, refining their take-off and landing skills and basically creating havoc and mess.

Pup 4 Petrie:

Petrie came into care on 19 October at 11 days old. Mum had been electrocuted on powerline and had fallen to the ground. Petrie survived without any burns from the electrocution, but he had a swollen right forearm and wrist. So off to the vet for an x-ray to ascertain if there was a break. Fortunately, there wasn’t a break. The swelling reduced overtime, but we noticed that as he grew, that he had a difference in length between his right and left forearm. The length of the forearm is used to age the pups and monitor their growth rate. A substantial difference between the right and left forearm can impact on the pup’s ability to fly. The smaller forearm was the one that had sustained the injury. The last few measurements have shown that the difference is getting smaller, which is great news.

Pup 5 Avocado:

Avocado is a “black” flying fox (Pteropus Alecto) – we usually have Grey Headed flying foxes (Pteropus poliocephalus) in care. Our fellow bat cares up north have been inundated with rescued pups, so we offered to care for some as our season has been relatively quiet and we had capacity to take on some more pups. Avo came to us on 9 November aged 3 weeks old, a little underweight and behind in his forearm. He also had come from a mum on the ground (possible electrocution) and had been covered in maggots. He is growing well and has caught up in weight and forearm. Avo is a sweet boy, easy going and loves his “blue sloth’ which he cuddles up to when he is having some time out on the big airer.

I hope you have enjoyed reading about the pups we have in care. Thank you for your continued involvement with this campaign. We could not do it without your support.

GlobalGiving Report August 2021

We have had a moderately busy winter season caring for around 250 adult and juvenile flying foxes that have come into care for a variety of reasons, including net entanglement or with concussion (from being hit by a car or flying into inanimate objects).  The final group of these flying foxes have been in the large cage for the last 4 weeks getting flight fit and ready for release. Their final catch-up and health check happened this last weekend and fortunately the majority are ready for release – so the hatch was opened on Sunday. It usually takes about a week or so for the bats to disperse and in the meantime we will continue to support feed them until they have all gone. This means we can all have a well-earned break from cleaning, cutting fruit and feeding out a Kukundi for a few months.

I have 3 bats remaining in care with me who, for a variety of reasons, will have to wait until the large cage re-opens again in a few months. All have injuries from net entanglement. One girl had an injury over her 3rd finger bone that has taken twice as long as normal to heal and it is only just now starting to close over and look good. She was removing the wound dressing almost every night (sometimes we managed to stretch it to 2 nights) and not allowing the covering to do its job. One of the other bats – a juvenile female had an injury on her right wing tip that was also not healing. In the end we determined that the bone underneath wound had died and so we had the wingtip amputated. She will be ready for time in the large cage the next time it is reopened.

In between the pups being released earlier this year and opening up the cage for the adults and juveniles, we have had some much needed maintenance work done.  The cutting room and prep room were given a thorough clean and a fresh coat of paint – its amazing how much brighter the rooms look. 

We also had new concrete floors laid in both cages, with the gradient of the flooring done so that the water runoff from cleaning the cages all goes in the right direction. We took the opportunity while the new floor was being laid to add a collection pit to help manage the waste.  Now that the last of the bats have been released, we can look at be painting the concrete floor with a special non-slip paint that makes it easier for cleaning and much safer for our volunteers to move around on.

Another addition to the small cage during this time was a hatch in the internal door of the small cage. This new hatch will make the weekly weigh and measure of pups much easier. In the past we had to curtain off the airlock with a sheet and this was where we would place the pups once they had their weekly health check.  They had a happy knack of escaping the curtained airlock. The new hatch means no more escaping!

We have also had netting in the cages redone, which has been a BIG job – just locating a source of the appropriate replacement netting was difficult. Over time the netting had developed quite a number of holes, which were beyond repair and becoming dangerous for the bats. So this was a much-needed job that had to be done. I would like to give a huge THANKYOU to one of our volunteers, Susan, who projected managed all of these jobs during some very trying times. She is a champion! 

I trust that you all have been keeping safe and well during this global pandemic.  Thank you so much for your generous donations that enable us to continue to rescue and release back into the wild these amazing bats. We could not do it without your help.