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
This beautiful adult black flying fox girl is Alita and she was foraging one night when she mistook some reflections in glass for open space and bumped into it. She then found herself down some steps in a semi-enclosed space that she had no hope of escaping from. Thank you very much to the caring resident who called us. Alita has no major injuries and honestly, she’s quite miffed about her experience.
She quaffed down 50mL of blackcurrant juice and soon joined the other bats in the rehab aviary. Thankfully, we’re not expecting her stay with us to be for very long.
Alita is named in appreciation of one of our generous donors. ❤ Thank you, Alita!
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 gorgeous girl is Danika, a sub adult black flying fox. Danika was out foraging for the night when she flew into a sliding glass door that she thought was open space. Danika hit her head very hard, giving herself a severe concussion. The homeowners found her half heartedly hanging on their deck the next morning and gave us a call to rescue her. We took Danika for a check up at the rspca to make sure she hadn’t broken any bones with how hard she hit the door. Thankfully she had no breaks, just the mother of all headaches that we managed with pain relief. It took Danika weeks to completely recover from her head trauma and it will now take her weeks longer to recover the flight fitness she’s lost. Hopefully we will have this girl fit and ready to return to the wild soon 🦇
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.
Flying foxes are sun lovers. Here are some of our in-care bats enjoying the sun, stretching, scratching and grooming.
We had a horrendous summer season, with hundreds of extra orphans from The Palms National Park. With over 300 hand raised babies having been creched and released at our release facility from January to April, we are coming up for air and our bats in care are now down to manageable numbers.
Amongst the bats you see here are some late-season orphans and some barbed wire victims.
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.
We have some good news to share in regards to the legal shooting of flying foxes in our state of Queensland. Yesterday it was announced that shooting will be completely banned in 3 years with an immediate reduction of 80-90% of the number allowed to be shot. We knew that an immediate ban was highly unlikely so this announcement is better then we expected. We want to thank all of our amazing followers for making submissions against the shooting of our flying foxes. We attended a consultation meeting where the department actually commented on the sheer number of pro flying fox submissions they received! So thank you for speaking up for our intelligent pollinators and helping to make this result possible.
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 sweet girl is Cass, an adult black flying fox. Cass is another victim of paralysis syndrome, found weak and skinny. Paralysis syndrome is a toxicity of unknown origin, with work to figure out the cause ongoing. Paralysis syndrome causes paralysis of bodily functions including blinking, swallowing and in the later stages, breathing. We have had good success treating mild to moderately affected bats with fluids and supportive care. Sweet Cass has recovered wonderfully under her rehabilitators care and is now doing the last of her recovery in a flight aviary. It can take a few months for paralysis bats to fully regain their strength but Cass will get back out in to the wild as soon as she’s ready.
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 have flying foxes got to do with koalas?
Everything!
Flying foxes pollinate the eucalypts that koalas must have to survive. Flying foxes are bees of the night. And because they travel long distances, flying foxes ensure genetic diversity of forest tree species, keeping our native forests healthy for all the wildlife that depend on them.
Last Sunday several of our committed volunteers attended the Old Petrie Town Wild Koala Day to help spread this important message of the critical importance of flying foxes to koalas and our environment.
Our sweet little “am-bat-ador” was a great drawcard. Many people said they’d never seen a flying fox up close and were amazed how cute they are. ❤
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 sweet young man is Terzini. He was feeding in a tree near a barbed wire fence and he didn’t see the fence as he flew off and sadly became entangled. Luckily he was spotted by some nearby workmen next morning and called in to us. It was a commercial site and our rescuers were escorted to where Terzini was by a caring staff member.
He has a sore mouth and wing where he was caught but he is recovering nicely.
Terzini is named in appreciation of one of our generous donors. <3 Thank you!
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.
We are so pleased to announce that all of our in season babies have been released! It has been an incredibly busy season for us dealing with the massive influx of orphans from the event at the palms. Once the babies are raised and weaned the work to get them back out in to the wild does not stop there. The babies are transferred to a flight aviary until they are flying strongly and can move to our big crèche release aviary. We have intakes of around 80 babies at a time who have a couple of weeks to settle in the aviary before the hatch is opened and they are free to come and go. They are then support fed for weeks until they are completely independent in the wild. It is a mammoth effort for our volunteers to cut and prepare the 20-50+ kg of fruit our orphans need every single night. So many volunteer hours go in to getting our orphans from rescue to release. It’s all worth it to see them flying through the sky, free to do their critical work of pollination and seed dispersal across the landscape.
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 sweet juvi girl is Quin the black flying fox. Poor Quin is still learning how to navigate our urban landscape so it’s no surprise she made a wrong turn and flew in to someone’s balcony door. She managed to hit her head and was quite dizzy and disoriented. Thankfully the balcony owners were kind people who gave us a call to help Quin. Her concussion was only mild but she also has a fungal skin condition which we don’t see very often in our flying foxes. This means she will need medicated baths and treatment for a few weeks until it completely clears. From there she can move to the flight aviary to regain her flight fitness before release. The second photos shows Quin post medicated bath, definitely not her favourite!
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.
The difference some TLC can make! This lovely girl is Lucy, the adult black flying fox. Lucy was found on the ground by a kind passerby who quickly gave us a call. We are incredibly grateful they did because Lucy was in a very bad way. She was suffering from paralysis syndrome, which is a toxicity of unknown origin. She had been down for awhile, very dehydrated, skinny and covered in thousands of fly eggs! Her carer has done such a fantastic job nursing Lucy back to full health. It’s very intensive caring for paralysis bats but those banana filled smiles at the end make it all worthwhile.
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.