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.
Facebook Posts
With such a huge influx of flying-fox orphans this season, and more arriving daily, we gratefully accepted FAWNA NSW INC’s offer to relieve the pressure on our carers. Late last week 28 orphans were ferried from Brisbane to Port Macquarie NSW. Eight baskets of babies were flown in a specially chartered Piper Navajo Chieftain plane to dedicated carers waiting across the border. The babies will be raised and released on the Mid North Coast. Flying-foxes migrate north to Queensland every winter following food sources, so fortunately these little ones will not need another special flight to return home when they are older!
We are very grateful to everyone involved in this airlift operation, including the carers and transporters at both ends from BCRQ in Brisbane and Toowoomba and FAWNA NSW INC. We are also grateful for the support of NPWS and DES Qld expediting the necessary permits to enable the orphans to be flown interstate.
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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.
Most of the baby flying-foxes that have come into our care this season have been compromised in some way. Some, including the orphans shown here, have had issues or injuries that needed veterinary assessment and treatment. We are extremely grateful for the time and care provided to our orphans by RSPCA’s Wildlife Hospital (Wacol), despite their facility being inundated with many other species in need.
Thank you RSPCA QLD for helping these little batty patients!
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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.
Tiny little Gumnut was found weak and starving in a front yard last week. Aged approximately 19 days old and only 69 gms, he weighed less than an average newborn flying-fox. Without the strength to cling on to his mother, Gumnut had presumably fallen from her by accident as she traversed the suburbs in search of food.
Having discovered how tasty his special milk formula is, Gumnut is now enjoying his feed routine of five bottles every day and starting to gain weight. Here he is in a milk coma, feeling safe and secure in the loving hands of his carer.
Gumnut is just one of more than 150 babies that we are now hand-raising. We would be most grateful to our wonderful followers if you felt able to donate to help us cover the costs of raising and releasing so many babies. Donations in Australia are tax deductible. Please see the ‘donate’ button at the top of our page.
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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.
This adorable little Grey-headed Flying-fox orphan named Ginger is just one of more than 160 baby flying-foxes in our care, with more arriving daily.
Help request, please!
The annual birthing season started three weeks later than usual then hit us hard. The earliest rescues were for many precious babies born prematurely. We’ve been able to nurture some but, sadly, many weren’t mature enough to survive. So far throughout November, our rescue hotline is receiving 25-30 calls per day - with up to 12-15 babies coming into care on many of these days.
Most of these babies are 20-30% underweight. We believe that they may have become too weak to hang on to their mothers. Our theory is that tragically, the dry spell and food shortage through our winter appears to have affected the volume and/or quality of mothers’ milk. The babies aren’t receiving enough nutrition, even though their mothers are lovingly caring for them.
The cost to raise an orphan right through to crèche (the pre-release phase) includes specialist flying-fox milk formula, teats, dummies and medications where required. This can cost around $30 per baby. Fruit at crèche is a huge expense and can be double this cost (around $60 per baby!)
We would be most grateful to our wonderful followers if you felt able to donate to help us cover these costs. Donations in Australia are tax deductible. Please see the ‘donate’ button at the top of our page.
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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.
This beautiful girl is Julie. She was snagged in one place by her wing on a strand of barbed wire running through the top of a chain wire fence. At first her injury didn’t appear too bad as barbed wire injuries go. Unfortunately, on closer examination, her carer found she’d injured her lower abdomen. This would have occurred when she flapped to try and free herself.
We’re extremely grateful to the vets and vet nurses from the RSPCA Wildlife Hospital for stitching her wound, especially on a day they were particularly busy. They had treated five or more of our orphans earlier that day, as well as other wildlife.
We’re sad that this wasn’t a security fence, just a fence between neighbours. If you live somewhere with a barbed wire fence, perhaps put up before you moved there, please consider removing it. Barbed wire fences cause cruel injuries to wildlife.
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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.
The welcome rain in our area has not slowed the stream of daily calls regarding bats in trouble. Our volunteers on the rescue hotline are just as busy as our rescuers and carers. One of the many calls our hotline received earlier this week was regarding a dead flying-fox hanging on powerlines with a live baby attached.
We are very grateful to Ergon Energy (Maryborough) who promptly responded to our request for a powerline retrieval. Overhead powerlines can be hazardous for flying-foxes. They risk electrocution when hanging on the lines, or from an arc if they fly too close. Females burdened by carrying a baby sometimes stop to rest on powerlines. Electrocution is usually fatal, but the baby often survives and can be hidden from view in the folds of its dead mother's wings.
Thank you, Ergon for so promptly responding to our request. We also thank the resident who reported the incident and kindly watched to see that the baby came to no harm while waiting for our rescuer and Ergon to attend. She named the baby Lucky. Fortunately little Lucky, aged 17 days, escaped unscathed. He is now settling well into his new home and routine.
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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.
We have been inundated with weak and starving flying-fox orphans this season. Other organizations like ours in SE Queensland and northern NSW are also reporting the same anomaly. It is suspected that lack of food availability has affected the lactation (or perhaps the quality) of flying-fox mothers’ milk.
Little Tessie (aged 23 days) pictured here sound asleep is the youngest of five distressed baby flying-foxes rescued last week by a crew from Queensland Fire and Emergency Services - QFES - Torquay Fire and Rescue Station. Firefighter Marcus earned the nickname ‘Batman’ for achieving three of the four pole rescues with impressive skill. The operation was very tricky, hampered by branches, an unwieldy pole and uncooperative frightened baby bats. The fourth pole retrieval was achieved by Tess, an eagle-eyed crew member - who also spotted the fifth orphan falling out of another tree nearby!
We are very grateful for the assistance of the amazing QFES crew who so willingly attended and helped us save these little lives.
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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.
This starving 3½ week old orphan was discovered crying alone high in a tree by one of our members. Thanks to vaccinated wildlife rescuer Angela’s expertise with her extendable pole (usually used to retrieve koalas!), little Orion was gently brought down to safety. The current dry conditions have created food shortages which are affecting the ability of flying-fox mothers to produce milk. Sadly, we are receiving many weak babies like Orion each day. Orion is very underweight, but is enjoying his bottles and settling into his new home.
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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.
Here’s one for the ‘rare rescue call’ files! Police visited a property as part of an investigation and were amazed to see a two week old baby flying-fox hanging from a curtain rail. Baby Starsky had been there for the last few days and wasn’t in very good shape.
It is illegal to keep native wildlife, all of which is protected by law in our state, without a permit. So, we were called in to save Starsky. Luckily he’s recovering well with his loving carer. Please don’t ever try to raise a baby flying-fox or a baby of any native species. They need specialist care to survive and thrive. If you’d like to raise flying-fox orphans, join us! We provide all training and support!
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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.
This 3½ week old baby flying-fox was found one morning lying on the ground under a huge backyard mango tree. He had accidentally fallen from his mother when she was feeding on mangoes the previous night. Fortunately, the baby was healthy and uninjured, so our carer asked permission from the kind property owners to return later and attempt to reunite him with his mother. Flying-fox mothers are devoted, and they grieve and search for their lost babies.
After receiving warmth, rest and rehydration in batty daycare, the little guy was taken back to the property at sunset. He was parked in a cozy hammock in a small tree (which was chosen for both his safety and easy access by his mother). She returned at dusk and started calling to her baby, and he replied, which you can hear in the video. Reunions are magical, especially as we know that flying-fox mothers do a much better job than we can of raising their babies!
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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.