ABOUT BAT CONSERVATION AND RESCUE QLD
Bat Conservation and Rescue Qld
is a registered not-for-profit volunteer organization that strives to help people understand the importance
of all bat species, to provide a prompt and humane rescue service, to raise orphans and to rehabilitate injured bats before returning them to the wild.
BCRQ offers this free 24/7 community service all year round including public holidays.
I HAVE FOUND A BAT
SEEK HELP – PLEASE DO NOT TOUCH BATS!
CALL OUR RESCUE HOTLINE ON 0488 228 134
If a bat bites or scratches a human, it may have to be destroyed and sent for testing for Australian Bat Lyssavirus – do not risk the bat’s life or your health. Only people trained and Rabies vaccinated should handle bats.
A flying-fox hanging on overhead power lines may still be alive. Even if dead, it may be a mother with a live baby tucked up under her wing. Please call BCRQ immediately.
If you find a flying-fox caught on a barbed wire fence, please very carefully and without touching it, throw a towel over the bat to help keep it calm. Then call BCRQ immediately.
If you find a flying-fox caught in fruit tree netting, do not try and cut the bat out of the net but call BCRQ immediately.
If the bat is on the ground, please cover the bat with a cardboard box or a washing basket to contain it and call BCRQ immediately.
Any bat by itself through the day is in trouble.
Keep children and pets away from the bat to help minimise its stress and remember, NO TOUCH NO RISK!
HOW YOU CAN HELP
BECOME A MEMBER
Join as an active or associate member. BCRQ offers free training to members.
MAKE A DONATION
Donate via GoGive, Bank Transfer or PayPal.
All donations of $2.00 and over are tax deductible.
Enrichment such as toys and natural branches provide our growing pups with stimulation. This orphan, named Capsicum, gives her favourite noisy butterfly toy a thorough workout at every opportunity. While the gentle tinkling of windchimes is a pleasant soothing sound, Capsicum’s ‘batchimes’ are a completely different story! She seems to know that the constant racket drives her carer batty 😂. ![]()
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If you see a bat on its own in the daytime, it needs help. PLEASE DON’T TOUCH THE BAT and give us a call immediately on 0488 228 134 for Brisbane and surrounds, or your local wildlife rescue in other regions.
Over two nights a little voice was heard calling for help on a Brisbane suburban property. The family scanned their front yard until they eventually spotted tiny Ginger in their tall gum tree. Later that evening one of our expert pole wrangling volunteers retrieved the tired hungry orphan hanging high above. Ginger is a grey-headed flying-fox, which is a federally listed Vulnerable species. Thank you to the family involved for calling us, and for allowing their photos of Ginger’s rescue to be used in this post.![]()
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If you see a bat on its own in the daytime, it needs help. PLEASE DON’T TOUCH THE BAT and give us a call immediately on 0488 228 134 for Brisbane and surrounds, or your local wildlife rescue in other regions.
It was a nail biting 28 hours from when this baby girl was first spotted way up high on power lines on a windy day, to when she was safely in care.![]()
Affectionately nicknamed “33”, she was spotted by a member of ours. These were 33,000 volt power lines and the cable was running between two substations. This meant that a specific certified high live wire crew and truck were needed for the rescue and they weren’t available. Oh no. ☹ ![]()
Two of our members checked on her regularly. Was she still alive? Had she fallen?![]()
Next day, we asked again: could this baby be saved?![]()
Lindsay and Troy, two Energex workers with the essential training and experience, were very happy to help. What a relief! Can you spot the mumma roll in the net? It was put in to encourage the baby to climb on.![]()
We can’t thank the team at Energex enough. 33 is a grey-headed flying fox, federally listed as vulnerable. We need her for the future health of our forests. Thank you, Energex!![]()
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If you see a bat on its own in the daytime, it needs help. PLEASE DON’T TOUCH THE BAT and give us a call immediately on 0488 228 134 for Brisbane and surrounds, or your local wildlife rescue in other regions.
Theo is one of the dozens of flying fox pups we are currently hand-raising to give them a second chance at life. He’s a grey-headed flying fox and he was found on a footpath of a busy road with no sign of his mum around.![]()
Theo is around 10 days old here and is gently checking out the world around him and stretching his wings.![]()
Isn’t he the sweetest?![]()
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If you see a bat on its own in the daytime, it needs help. PLEASE DON’T TOUCH THE BAT and give us a call immediately on 0488 228 134 for Brisbane and surrounds, or your local wildlife rescue in other regions.
Did you spot the flying fox in the dry leaves? Thrasher was very lucky to be seen by the lovely person who called us to get him help.![]()
He earned his name due to his erratic movements but it wasn’t his fault! He was suffering the effects of a paralysis tick. Big thanks to RSPCA QLD for treatment for the tick. He’s now doing really well and will be ready for release soon. The white spot on his chest is the crater left by the tick.![]()
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If you see a bat on its own in the daytime, it needs help. PLEASE DON’T TOUCH THE BAT and give us a call immediately on 0488 228 134 for Brisbane and surrounds, or your local wildlife rescue in other regions.
Twiggy is a young black flying fox who was spotted at a bus stop near a vet clinic by one of the vet staff. How lucky is that? They safely wrapped her and called us. She was very skinny and sore so she’d possibly been bumped by a vehicle. She’s recovering well.![]()
Twiggy could smell there was something good to eat in this food dish. It took her just a little while to figure out how to get to it. Clever girl!![]()
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If you see a bat on its own in the daytime, it needs help. PLEASE DON’T TOUCH THE BAT and give us a call immediately on 0488 228 134 for Brisbane and surrounds, or your local wildlife rescue in other regions.
A hailstorm has caused mass death and suffering in flying foxes again. A month after the tragedy in Tin Can Bay, the Esk colony was in the firing line of a vicious mid-afternoon storm.![]()
Along with RSPCA QLD and some Bats QLD members, many of our volunteers made the trip of over an hour to save any bats we could, and humanely end the pain of those we couldn’t. Nasty fractures and concussions are the most common injuries these bats sustain. This emergency response has continued every day since the storm a week ago because the scale of loss and injury is huge. This is exacerbated by the time of year: right now mothers have dependent babies clinging to their bodies, reliant on them for survival. Many of these have been orphaned, alive because their mothers’ bodies protected them. All three species that live in the area are affected: black, grey-headed and little red flying foxes.![]()
Big thanks to our friends in other rescue groups who will share the load of raising the babies that were saved. RSPCA Qld have assessed and treated over 200 victims, absorbing this massive extra workload into their already busy schedule. Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary helped too. It’s truly been a mammoth co-operative response.![]()
All of this incurs considerable costs. We’ll be truly grateful for any help you’re able to give. Please consider donating to us and the other organisations mentioned. For us, there's a donate button on this page. Please go to the websites of the other organisations to help. Thank you.![]()
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If you see a bat on its own in the daytime, it needs help. PLEASE DON’T TOUCH THE BAT and give us a call immediately on 0488 228 134 for Brisbane and surrounds, or your local wildlife rescue in other regions.
Bats can get themselves into all sorts of tricky and unusual situations. Sunset is one of those strange cases. She was found at a construction site wedged into a narrow hole. Her attempts to escape the slippery hole resulted in a thick crusty coating of mud over every inch of her body. Submerging and bathing a wild adult flying-fox is quite an art, but our very capable carer ensured Sunset remained relaxed throughout the process. Sunset didn’t receive the luxury spa experience that she was hoping for, but she instantly became more beautiful when her DIY mud mask was removed!![]()
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If you see a bat on its own in the daytime, it needs help. PLEASE DON’T TOUCH THE BAT and give us a call immediately on 0488 228 134 for Brisbane and surrounds, or your local wildlife rescue in other regions.
Powerlines can be a hazard to flying-foxes, particularly when there are fruiting or flowering trees close by. At this time of the year mother flying-foxes are carrying their babies, so it is important to check any dead bodies on powerlines. As you can see in our video, the mother’s wings made contact with two wires and she was electrocuted. However, as is often the case, her baby survived. Once again, the wonderful Energex team responded to our call for help. Baby Chantel (named in honour of the Energex phone dispatcher) had plenty to say when she was rescued! She is now doing well in care. Thank you to everyone involved in saving little Chantel’s life.![]()
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If you see a bat on its own in the daytime, it needs help. PLEASE DON’T TOUCH THE BAT and give us a call immediately on 0488 228 134 for Brisbane and surrounds, or your local wildlife rescue in other regions.
True or false? Fairy lights in trees are harmless.![]()
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Answer: FALSE Fairy lights can harm wildlife.![]()
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Oberon is a stunning adult black flying fox in peak health and condition, but even skilled foragers like Oberon have no defences against hazards we humans unwittingly leave in the environment. He was hopelessly entangled in many loops of fairy lights.![]()
Thank you so much to the lovely family who called and who urged our rescuer to cut the light strings to free Oberon as quickly as possible. They plan to remove the rest. Thanks also for permission to use your videos.![]()
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Once freed, Oberon enjoyed some banana smoothie and he’ll recuperate in a flight aviary with other bats for a few weeks while we ensure he’s fully injury-free and can return to the wild.![]()
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If you see a bat on its own in the daytime, it needs help. PLEASE DON’T TOUCH THE BAT and give us a call immediately on 0488 228 134 for Brisbane and surrounds, or your local wildlife rescue in other regions.