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 Bank Transfer or PayPal.
All donations of $2.00 and over are tax deductible.
Sign up for our newsletter
Facebook Posts
Like Batatouille who you met a couple of days ago, George of George St is another juvenile black flying fox who was foraging in the city when he mistook the reflections in a large building with a glass exterior for a clear flight path and, sadly, flew into it.
Luckily George isn’t badly injured and is recovering well. Thanks as always to the kind person who saw him and called him in.
Here he is looking tiny and cute in a towel and later meeting some of the big adult boys who are in care at the moment.
If you see a bat on its own in the daytime, it needs help. 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.
Batatouille is a juvenile black flying fox who ended up in an underground car park in the city. There is a large fig down the street a bit so it seems he may have been feeding in that and flew off, perhaps dodged a vehicle, and swerved towards the car park entrance just when the door was open and then it closed after him. He was found hanging on a sign. Thank you to the caring person who saw him and called us to help him.
Thank you also to Harry who generously sponsored Batatouille, gave him his great name, and photoshopped in his chef’s hat and spoon to his photo.
If you see a bat on its own in the daytime, it needs help. 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.
This adorable little man is Milo the baby black flying fox. Milo was latched on tight to his mum as she went out foraging for the night when she was tragically hit and killed by a car. The driver either didn’t notice or chose not to stop, leaving a very much alive Milo clinging to his passed away mum on the road. Thankfully the next day, a kind passerby spotted his mum and had a closer look. They noticed little Milo nestled in her wing pit and gave us a call to rescue him. Milos mum did an amazing job protecting her baby and little Milo did not have any serious injuries. He is a late season baby being lovingly raised in our care for release once he is old enough and flying strongly.
We understand it can be completely unavoidable to hit wildlife but please pull over if it’s safe to do so and check on them. Many of our wildlife are out and about with babies on board so you may still save a life even if the mother has passed.
Remember that any bat by itself during the day is in need of help. Don’t touch the bat and give us a call immediately on 0488 228 134 for Brisbane and surrounds or your local wildlife rescue for other regions.
This tiny beauty is Bumble the little pied bat. Bumble was spotted by an eagle eyed student at a local university. The mum of this student volunteers with us so knew just what to do to get Bumble the help she needed! We suspect Bumble may have become trapped, managed to free herself but not had the energy to fly off. A few days of hydration and our meal worm buffet will have her back out in the wild.
We have over 20 species of microbats in south east Queensland and we definitely see some more than others. Bumble here is an exciting rarity, the only little pied bat we have ever had in our care!
Remember that any bat by itself during the day is in need of help. Don’t touch the bat and give us a call immediately on 0488 228 134 for Brisbane and surrounds or your local wildlife rescue for other regions.
This lovely boy is Everett. He was found on the ground under a flowering tree. Flying foxes love blackcurrant juice and Everett could smell the juice in the dripper bottle placed near him and, in no time at all, figured out how to use his thumb to pull it to his mouth so he could lap that sweet treat.
He made a full recovery and is now flying free, back in the wild where he belongs.
If you see a bat on its own in the daytime, it needs help. 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.
This lovely adult black flying fox girl is Nutella. She was called in to us by a homeowner after they spotted her hanging in the same spot for a couple of days. We are very glad they called us as poor Nutella was suffering from paralysis syndrome, a toxicity of unknown origin. Nutella was moderately affected meaning she was very weak and unable to swallow well. She was also very skinny and dehydrated. Her carer worked very hard over a couple of weeks until Nutella could swallow better and started regaining strength. In this video Nutella is much improved and up hanging in an aviary. She’s licking some of our delicious high protein smoothie she’s being fed to help her put on more weight. We are hoping it won’t be too long until Nutella is fully recovered and ready to be released!
Remember that any bat by itself during the day is in need of help. Don’t touch the bat and give us a call immediately on 0488 228 134 for Brisbane and surrounds or your local wildlife rescue for other regions.
Here we have one of our sweet late season babies Seraphina trying her first fruit! We introduce small, soft pieces of pear to our babies when they are 7 weeks old. Bats don’t actually chew and swallow their food, they instead chew out all of the juice to swallow before spitting out the pulp. Seraphina is still learning to do this so we ensure the first fruit we introduce is bite sized and easy for her to chew and spit. It won’t be long before Seraphina can start trying different fruits in larger pieces!
Remember that any bat by itself during the day is in need of help. Don’t touch the bat and give us a call immediately on 0488 228 134 for Brisbane and surrounds or your local wildlife rescue for other regions.
What does the gorgeous Olguin, a big 1kg boy, and Leslie, a pretty subadult girl less than half his weight, have in common?
Both are black flying foxes. 🦇
Both are named in appreciation of two of our generous donors. ❤ And both were belly dipping in a backyard swimming pool and flew into a glass pool fence.
Flying foxes drink by flying low over water and dipping their bellies into the water. They then lick the water off their bellies, either while in flight, or after landing somewhere nearby.
Sadly, glass is invisible to flying foxes at night, and these fences have become very popular.
We encourage anyone with this type of fence around their pool to stick decals on the glass to make them visible to wildlife. Thank you!
Olguin spent a couple of weeks in care to make sure nothing was amiss and is now flying free again. We expect Leslie to make a similarly speedy recovery and be back in the wild soon.
If you see a bat on its own in the daytime, it needs help. 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.
This scrumptious little man is Zane, the Gould’s wattled bat. Zane was out foraging for the night when he accidentally entered a building. He flew and flew but couldn’t find his way out, he was trapped! A couple of days later he was discovered by the workers in a sorry state, very skinny and dehydrated. Thankfully these lovely workers called for rescue. Zane had fluid therapy for a couple of days before finally being hydrated. He has thoroughly enjoyed our free meal worm buffet and has now been released!
This video is in slow motion and if you watch until the end you can see Zane opening his mouth and doing some ultrasonic echolocation calls before his release.
Remember that any bat by itself during the day is in need of help. Don’t touch the bat and give us a call immediately on 0488 228 134 for Brisbane and surrounds or your local wildlife rescue for other regions.
This beautiful little girl is Seraphina, the baby black flying fox. Poor Seraphina has had a very rough start in her 4 weeks of life. Tragically her mother flew in to powerlines with Seraphina on board, electrocuting them both. The next morning, a passerby spotted Seraphina by herself being attacked by crows. Thankfully this person called us and we were able to rescue her from the crows asap. Sadly Seraphina’s mother was no where in sight but going off Seraphina’s severe injuries we suspect her mother has passed. We weren’t sure if Seraphina was going to make it but the wonderful vets at the rspca did blood work and an X-ray to make sure the electrocution hasn’t damaged her internally or further to what we can see on her wings. Seraphina is a lovely and sweet baby, not letting her injuries get her down at all. Although we could never compare to her mother, we will do our best to offer her all of the love and support we can as she heals.
Fly free Seraphina’s mum, your baby is doing well and will be released once she’s grown and ready for the wild.
Remember that any bat by itself during the day is in need of help. Don’t touch the bat and give us a call immediately on 0488 228 134 for Brisbane and surrounds or your local wildlife rescue for other regions.