Wildlife Conservation Australia Project #18444

Help Baby Bats Take Flight!

by Sydney Wildlife

Project Report | Mar 6, 2017
Summer is finally over!

By Georgina Binns | Project Manager

My pups this season: Vox and Hutch

Forgive me for being excited that summer is finished, but its been a nightmare season for our flying foxes on the east coast of Australia!

Late October into November is the time when mum flying foxes start to give birth in NSW and unfortunately it coincided with one of the greatest food shortages we've experienced in a long time. A combination of bad weather conditions and delayed flowering events meant that our ecologically important keystone species struggled to find enough food to get themselves by. Mothers trying to produce milk for their pups as well as creating enough energy for themselves to fly out whilst carrying said pup were the worst effected. This means that they had to leave pups behind so they were able to fly further out to find food, or were simply unable to produce the milk for the pups. Whilst this is very sad for the pups, who were becoming more emaciated by the day, the mothers would still be able to survive to breed another year.

So bat carers all along the coast stepped in; monitoring camps and surrounding areas for orphaned malnourished pups unable to be supported by mum any longer. Hundreds of pups came into care.

In December, the food shortage continued. Sporadic flowerings occurred and flying fox camps en mass would descend upon them to get as much nourishment as they could. Pups were steadily coming into care, but at the same time, net-caught adults coming into care increased; these bats were being caught in urban backyards, in un-friendly wildlife netting and getting tangled and strangled and unable to get away from the hot summer sun. (For an idea of what wildlife-friendly netting looks like, and where you can get it from, check out: http://www.wildlifefriendlyfencing.com/WFF/Netting.html). Already loaded with adorable, but malnourished pups, carers in Sydney were struggling to keep up with the number of calls for adult rescues. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-02-22/sydney-flying-fox-rescues-at-record-high/8293004 But then the hot weather arrived.

The ABC news reported our hottest Australian summer on record (again), with 11 days over 35 degrees celcius in Sydney metropolitan area. Western Sydney had 10 days over 40 degrees! http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-03-01/sydney-summer-the-hottest-on-record/8315672

Flying foxes are usually pretty good at coping with hot Sydney weather, but consecutive days of 42 degrees or more are unbearable for them- and we have what is known as a Heat Stress Event. It sounds awful, because it is. The camp collectively moves from the tree tops further and further down the tree trunks, doing whatever they can to cool themselves whilst staying in the shade. Pups and mothers still producing milk are the first to succumb to heat stress and dyhydration eventually makes them drop from the tress to the ground. Several camps up the east coast of Australia 'dropped' during late January/ early February and thousands of flying foxes died. We were luckier in Sydney metropolitan area than elsewhere, but the loss was felt by bat-lovers everywhere.

On to happier news, Kukundi successfully housed and released upwards of 80 orphaned flying fox pups in the last month (exact numbers were not recieved at time of writing, but well done Kukundi vounteers and carers!!) and the new flight aviary is a complete success! We're confidant that our orphans have been given the best second chance at life possible, with amazing fascilities to practice flying and being grown up bats, before being released to explore the beautiful, if sometimes harsh Australian landscape.

And without donations from our incredible supporters, none of it would be possible! Donations are currently funding the access our rescuers and carers have to the XMatters rescue alert system, an immediate communication app that allows rescues to be attended to quickly and effciently. We are also looking forward to getting a new hot water system at Kukundi to help clean the aviaries and fruit preparation area.

Thank you so much to all our generous supporters for their continued support over the horrendous season we've had this summer!

Georgina the Bat Slave

Vox just put into creche at Kukundi. So Brave!

This is what 70kgs of chopped fruit looks like!

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Dec 7, 2016
Thank you and next steps

By Maryanne Large | Sydney Wildlife Volunteer

Bats flying out at sunset from our local colony.

Hi everyone

This report is to let you know some good news, and to let you know about the next steps.

The good news, no the great news is- thanks to you incredibly generous donors - we have fully funded our new creche cage! We are all super grateful for your ongoing commitment, which has allowed us to provide the best possible care that we can to our baby bats.

The less good news, is that this season is shaping up to be a shocker for bats. There have been food shortages all along the east coast, and some days we have had as many as 12 bat calls in a day. This is really challenging for our team of volunteers. The sheer numbers, and the fact that we also have to work, eat and sleep ourselves, has been difficult for many people. The food shortages are related to the El Nino cycle, and the summer is also predicted to be very hot, so I suspect we may have to watch out for heat stress events also.

Life is not easy for our little bats.

Because of this, we have decided to extend our funding goal. The cage is now fully funded, but we are hoping you may still be interested in helping to fund the new electronic bat alert system (which gets all rescuers to bats in crisis as soon as we know about them so they get rescued faster), food (they eat. A lot!) veterinary expenses, and emergency kits to cope with heat stress events. I know money is tight, and of course we understand if you feel you have done your bit in funding the cage. Which is quite true and very much appreciated!

But the truth is that the demands of rescue carers never stop. While animals need us, we will also need help. I hope that you will continue to find this a worth project.

One final point- I am handing over this stage of the project to a new Bat Slave, Georgina Binns. So a personal thank you from me, and good luck to George with helping out on this wonderful project.

Have a safe safe holiday and a very happy new year. There are a lot of bats flying out wild now because of your help. I thought you might appreciate my last photo being one of freedom rather than a bat in care, so I hope you enjoy it. This photo is part of the flyout of about 20 000 bats from our local colony, as they head off for a night of food and exploration with their friends and family.

A great example to follow, at this time of year.

Many thanks, and have a peaceful 2017.

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Nov 14, 2016
Halloween bat

By Maryanne Large | Sydney Wildlife Volunteer

Saved on the Eve of Halloween.

Halloween season is also baby bat season.

Around 6:30 on 30th of October, I got a series of frantic texts. Two bat carers, Lauren and Fiona, had been called out to a rescue. A mother bat had been electrocuted on powerlines, but she was carrying a pup, which was still alive. The members of the public who called it in said that the bat had been up there for a couple of days, so it was really urgent to get the baby down.

The carers had called the electricity company, Ausgrid, but they responded that they may not be able to get there for a day- there were storms passing through and many other calls. As the time ticked away, the carers waiting under the powerlines became increasingly anxious. They called the RSPCA. They called back Ausgrid and reminded them that Grey headed Flying Foxes are a vulnerable species.They asked to escalate the call to the manager, afraid that the baby would not survive another night.

Then finally, on the eve of Halloween, Augrid arrived, and the little bat was brought down. She now in the care of two devoted carers.

They have taken on a big task. Bringing up baby involves 3 months in care, starting off with 5 feeds a day, which you somehow have to fit in with other parts of your daily schedule. Bats are placental mammals and we can feed them cows milk, with a couple of additives. We feed them using tiny baby bottles, and special latex bat teats, to be as much like their mum's as possible. As they get older, we gradually introduce them to solid food (cubes of apple, pear and melon) and the native blossom which is their favourite food in the wild. After 3 months, they move to the communal creche cage, which you have so generously helped to fund.

The creche cage is a sort of bat finishing school. Or possibly a bat Hogwarts. They have space to practice flying, give up their human associates and start being, socially speaking, wholly bat. They learn to hang out together and the complexities of bat social life. And when they have done that, they can do something that really is truely magical, and rejoin the wild.

But that is still a little while away for our little Halloween bat :-).

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