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Fruit Bat Babies Get Help

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Two-weeks-old Troy suffered heat stress. Picture by Sarah Thorpe, Landcare Australia

ABC News: A sanctuary for orphaned fruit bats on Sydney’s North Shore (Australia) has been expanded to house more pups and adult bats.

Every spring up to 100 fruit bat orphans are hand-reared by wildlife volunteers, then taken to the Kukundi shelter at Lane Cove National Park.

Their mothers can die from natural predators, flying accidents and entanglement in power lines.

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baby bats injured by electrocution (on power lines) wait for milk. Landcare Australia

“They will go to backyard fruit. And they will get tangled in backyard fruit netting. And this does terrible things to their wings so they can’t fly,” said Tierre Thorpe from wildlife carer organisation Sydney Wildlife.

“They often get caught on power lines so they get electrocuted,” she said.

The breeding season is in October when it is all hands on decks for volunteers.

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Picture by Tiere Thrope shows a baby on a mini-milk bottle. Landcare Australia.

The bats “go through a rehabilitation process in our volunteer’s homes and they come here to gain flight fitness,” she said.

“They learn to fly. They are dehumanised. And we have a hatch at the back which is opened at the time. And then we support feed them for a couple of weeks so they can come back to obtain food while they have their freedom.”

An expanded cage for orphans which was opened this week is expected to cater for 100 babies a year – alongside the 500 adults in a separate cage.

More on ABC News

18 thoughts on “Fruit Bat Babies Get Help”

  6. They are such sweet little things. It’s tragic that so many of these bats are killed or badly injured in backyard netting or power lines. The work done in the rehabilitation centres is wonderful, including the way the orphans are cared for. Thank you for sharing this, Joycelin.

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