Wildlife Conservation Australia Project #18444

Help Baby Bats Take Flight!

by Sydney Wildlife

Project Report | Jun 10, 2019
Winter Release

By Fiona Bassett | Project Manager

Corralled bats ready for catch-up

We are in for another long season this year as we still have plenty of adult and juvenile bats in care waiting to go through the release facility's large flight aviary at Kukundi. These bats have come into care for a variety of reasons, but the major cause is from being entangled in netting that is used in backyards to protect fruit trees from wildlife. Unfortunately the majority of the netting used has inappropriate mesh size (too large) which means bats and other wildlife are easily entangled.

There is a lengthy process of rehabilitation that each bat needs to go through, with the last part of their rehab journey in the large cage getting flight fit before release. Once in the cage they are given 2 to 3 weeks to build up strength and muscle tone. Before we open that hatch we do a "catch up" where each bat is caught, examined and flight tested. Those that don't pass are brought back into care and for the rest the hatch of the cage is opened. We support feed for as long as required - and it can sometimes take weeks for the bats to have all left the cage. Once gone they have all gone the hatch is closed and the process is stared over again for the next lot of bats.

We probably have at least two more rounds of bats going through before we can hopefully close the facility for a well earned break and get some maintenance work done.

Examination of bat before flight test

Flight test and we are good to go!

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Mar 4, 2019
Spring Report

By Fiona Bassett | Project Leader

Unloading pups into bush release cage

Hello Fellow Bat Lovers. We are coming to the end of the pup season, which is exciting, however we have had a surge in the number of adults and juveniles coming into care.

Firstly an update on our pups. We have put our first group of pups into the release cage , which is located in the bush near a Grey Headed Flying Fox camp. After a week of acclimatising to the new environment we opened the hatch 2 nights ago, so our young ones could leave and experience free living! Once they have dispersed and integrated into the colony, we will put our next lot of 30 pups in to get ready for release. It is with a great deal of satisfaction to be able to report on this, as many of the pups will have been in care for over 3 months, so to have a sucessful outcome of release is exciting.

The news for the adults is not so cheerful. We have had a long, hot and dry summer that has meant the food supply for adults is low. Due to these weather conditions, the gums that are flowering are not producing much nectar, and the bats are looking for an alternate food supply - fruit trees in peoples back yards. The favourite seems to be fig trees as the figs are ripe and juicy. Unfortunately many people have the incorrect netting over their trees, consequently we are rescuing many adults from entanglement. These net caught bats need to be in care for a minimum of 2 weeks, and many are in for much longer due to the injuries they sustain from being caught up in the nets. Educating the public and retail stores (that sell netting) about wildlife friendly netting is a long and slow process. Any netting that you can poke your finger through is dangersous for any wildlife, not only bats.

I want to personally thank you all for your continued support for our Flying Foxes.Without it we could not contiune to rescue, rehabilitate and relase these amazing animals.

THANKS!

Fiona

New home sweet home

Net caught adult

Net wrapped around wing

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Dec 3, 2018
The Good News and the Bad!

By Fiona Bassett | Project Leader

Twin girl

It has been a relatively quiet start to pup season in New South Wales this year, which is good, as we much prefer pups and mums to stay together.

I have 3 pups in care at the moment: one little girl was found on the outside of a swimming pool and the little boy was found at the base of a tree, all alone. The final little girl I have in care is a bit special as she is a twin. Mum came into care with a head injury and it was found that she was carying two pups, which is very rare. The mum was only able to feed one pup while she was recevring from her injuries so the boy was left with her and both mum and pup are doing well. The littel girl came into my care a few weeks ago and after a bit of a rough start is also thriving.

We have started work on the maintenance at Kukundi and thanks to the hard work of a few Sydney Wildlife members, we have had a coolroom installed. This going to be amazing once the season is in full swing.

Unfortunately up north in Queensland, where they have been suffereing from heat wave conditions so early in the season, it is not such a good story. The Spectacled Flying Fox speceis in Queensland has been decimated by this record breaking heat wave. Thousands of adults and pups have dropped dead due to the extreme temperatures, and many hundreds of orphaned pups have come into care.

This species is currently listed as vulnerable in Australia and conservationists have been pushing to upgrade the species to endangered.

Sorry to end the report on such a sad note, however, thank you for all of your generous donations that enable us to contiune to rescue, rehabilitate and release back into the wild our beautiful flying foxes. We couldn't do it without your help

Fiona

Pool girl

After the clean up

New cool room!!

Boy pup

Links:

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