A couple of rescues and a colony check this morning. With the wild weather around, we always like to do a check of the colony to see how everyone is faring.
This morning the sun was out, which they were enjoying, however they were a little restless. Possibly feeling that the weather was about to turn a bit nasty.
Enjoy this video of what pure perfection in flight looks like 💕🦇💕
On Wednesday 22nd June at 1.00 am on a cold foggy night, Sammie found herself in trouble at the bottom of a palm tree. Her plight was alerted to the homeowner, Ryan, by his dog, and after a call to the hotline, Melinda, a rescuer, was on her way within minutes. It was suspected Sammie could be pregnant. The next day, we found that in fact she was, and sadly Sammie lost her baby. This can happen to pregnant bats, due to the stress of being away from the colony.
Sammie stayed in care for 10 days. Her improvement was slow in the beginning, then on day 7 she appeared to be more active and from then on she improved every day until her release.
Her recovery and subsequent release was only possible because Ryan rang our hotline immediately when he found her, and she was rescued quickly. Being on the ground on a freezing cold night could've given Sammie a totally different outcome.
Our wildlife depend upon members of the public to be aware of unusual situations that they find an animal, and to be able to seek assistance asap.
Our hotline is available 24/7 and we endeavour to have a rescuer attend within an hour. Our hotline is also a great resource for advice on anything batty. If you are not sure whether a bat is in trouble, by all means give the hotline a call.
Sammie was released on Saturday, 2nd July and she was perfection in flight. Our gratitude goes to Ryan for his diligence and prompt action, which saved Sammie. She will go onto have many more babies in the future and I'm sure she won't forget her ordeal. I wonder if she is thinking a warm room with room service is better than these freezing cold nights in the colony?!
Take care Sammie and enjoy your freedom.
Hotline: 8486 1139 (24/7)
Educational talks available
It's Mealworm Munching Monday! Here's a slow-mo video of a Gould's Wattled Bat enjoying her mealworms this evening.
She was found on the ground in Ethelton yesterday, thankfully called into us by a member of the public.
Our carer assessed her for injuries and found none. Following a successful flight test in our tent, she was ready to go back into the wild.
She was successfully released tonight and flew off, happily catching insects along the way.
We could not have asked for a better outcome.
Unfortunately the flying-foxes are feeling the heat!🥵🦇
If you are around the area near Adelaide Botanic Garden , Adelaide Zoo , Adelaide Botanic High School ,The University of Adelaide etc. you will likely witness Flying-foxes heading over to belly-dip in The River Torrens in the late afternoon and evening.
They then fly up in to trees near the river to lick the water off their belly and rehydrate before returning to the colony.
There are many young animals and mothers are still raising their young so if you see any animals that appear to be in distress, do not touch the animal, call us on 8486 1139.
Our team are doing extra patrols of the area.
In this clip you can spot a mother and baby flying-fox together in the tree.
Flying-foxes are social animals and the first social relationship they have is with their mother, at the exclusion of all others, until they are approximately 12 weeks old.
In the unfortunate circumstance where a young animal loses it's mother and comes in to care, our hand rearing practices emulate this singular intense bond as much as possible.
The carers have big shoes to fill as flying foxes are attentive, affectionate and doting mothers.
The goal in hand rearing is to set these animals up for the most successful lives possible after release both physically and psychosocialy.
It is not normal for flying foxes to seek peer interaction or "friendships" before 12 weeks of age. In the wild, it's all about Mum.
If you find a bat in trouble, do not touch it, call us 24/7 on 8486 1139
This was the scene at our flying-fox colony yesterday. Those pine trees being thrashed around by the wind are full of bats.
It wasn't safe for rescuers to investigate at the time, it quickly got dark and the bats began to fly out before the winds calmed.
Several dedicated members of our team were up bright and early today to check the colony for any injured animals.
Extreme weather is unkind to a lot of wildlife.
If you find a bat outside of the colony during the day, do not touch it. Call us 24/7 on: 8486 1139
We are also keeping other species in our minds during this turbulent weather. For any other wildlife in trouble call the Fauna Rescue Hotline: 8289 0896
Dinner time! When they're in our care, we feed microbats, like this Gould's Wattled Bat, mealworms with Wombaroo supplement. Sound up for the crunch!
#MicrobatsMatter
This lesser long-eared bat loved munging down boosted meal worms!
Our carers dip them in a high protein supplement mix to give them an extra boost before being released.
Nom nom nom!
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Its Baturday! Nothing beats boosted mealworms! So crunchy!
This Gould's Wattled Bat was in care for alopecia. She fully recovered and was successfully released after her fur grew back!
This Gould's Watted Bat is listening out for something... we think she is ready to hunt some insects for her dinner!
