Help Baby Bats Take Flight!

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.