'They're at death's door': Unorthodox advice to help flying foxes starving in the wild
Some unorthodox advice has emerged which could help flying foxes that are starving to death in the wild.
Queensland residents were being warned not to touch or handle fruit bats that had fallen out of trees after suffering through a starvation event occurring across southeast Queensland, with many tired and malnourished.
But according to bats and flying foxes rescue organisation, Bats QLD, people can rig up simple but life-saving snacks for the animals.
The organisation is pleading with people to hang ‘apple kebabs’ to help those bats doing it tough.
“They are a super simple and an easy way that you can provide some food for bats,” Bats QLD wrote in a Facebook post.
“This is how we, as bat carers, provide enrichment and food for the bats in care.
“They can easily be constructed using fencing wire from Bunnings or an old metal coast hanger.
“Simply threat the apples through the wire, provide some length at each end to create a hook and you have an ‘apple kebab’.”
However, for bats to munch on the snack they must be hung in accessible areas like on top of a wooden fence or in a tree.
They can also be attached to the trunk of trees using a rope, but they must be at least two metres high.
Bats QLD urges people to leave the apple kebabs once they are hung, as they did not want to encourage interaction between humans and bats.
“We do not want these animals to become dependent on you for this food, nor do we want the animal to associate humans with food,” it wrote in its Facebook post.
“This can be achieved by sporadically providing this fruit. Do not make this routine, but keep it random.”
Pet owners who don’t have bats often visiting their gardens are also warned not to set up the snack to start attracting them as it could put them at risk of a dog attack.
Record number of starving bats
Bats QLD says it has been inundated with a record number of calls in recent weeks to help bats across the Gold Coast, southeast Queensland and northeast NSW.
“Sadly bats are starving to death. Due to deforestation and developments, there are not enough food sources to sustain the wild bats,” the group wrote in a Facebook post on Tuesday.
“We, and other bat rescue groups, are witnessing hundreds of bats, predominately juveniles, being rescued that are either emaciated, underweight or on death’s door from starvation.”
The Queensland Wide Bay Hospital and Health Service issued a warning this week for people not to handle bats, even if they think it’s dead.
“We’ve unfortunately had six incidents in the Wide Bay of people being injured from a bat in the last 17 days,” it wrote on Facebook on Friday.
“Two of these incidents involved people trying to handle what they thought was a dead bat. In one case the bat wasn’t actually dead, and in the other the person was injured by the dead animal’s wing claw.”
Evan Quartermain from the Humane Society International (HSI) has worked with state and federal governments on the threats facing bats.
“Food issues have been a recurring problem over the last decade or so, as we see more and more natural habitats cleared,” he told Yahoo News Australia.
“It’s really hard to predict where the food will be and when for flying foxes.”
For those unable to install apple kebabs, they can instead donate funds or fruit to Bats QLD instead.
Anybody wanting to help should email enquiries@batsqld.org.au and if a sick of injured bat is found on your property call the 24 hour rescue hotline on 0447 222 889.
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