Batty Update

By the way, the flying fox baby that I rescued, Hettie, was released earlier this year, along with the other batties that my aunt ended up caring for (3 girls in total).

So somewhere over Brisbane, she'll be flying around with the other flying foxes, hopefully to thrive and live a good life. An excellent result considering how she started out in life>> new-born, attached to her dead mother's teat, her twin brother still attached to the mother via the umbilical cord. So sad. I wish her mother could know that one of her babies survived, and is now flying free.


I have been called to a couple of rescues. One last weekend was supposed to be a simple one, but luckily i picked my aunt up and took her with me because the "simple rescue of bat off a fence" turned out to be "rescue of bat 10 feet up from ground wrapped around barbed wired"


DON"T USE BARBED WIRE PEOPLE. IT IS DEADLY TO CREATURES. Animals that are not found and rescued die horribly cruel deaths due to starvation and dehydration, esp. when in summer, hanging trapped in the hot sun. It is so cruel.

Lucky for this girl, someone called her in. I got a ladder from the security guard and I went up one side, my aunt up the other. My aunt put a towel over the bat (still above us at arm's length), while i disentangled one wing and trapped it in the towel. But the other leg and wing was hopelessly caught so while i held this screeching bat in the towel above my head, my aunt went down and the security gaurd came up to try and cut the barbed wire either side. Eventually he succeeded, and we were able to take the flying fox to the RSPCA. Fortune continued to be kind, and the vaccinated vet was there. She sedated the bat to make it easier for us and more comfortable for the bat, and we extricated the barbed wire from the wings and eventually the leg. The black flying fox was lucky in that no bones were broken; no joints were involved. She lost a lot of leg flesh- when the vet moved the leg to check function the tendon was clearly visible, showing bloody white through a large gaping rent in the skin where the barbs had torn. The skin had be cut off as it got all dead and crusty while the bat was hanging on the wire. She'd been there a while. Her mouth was a bloody due to her own attemps to free herself, but she didn't do any lasting damage to her mouth. Apart for a concern about circulation, she had a good prognosis. But first, a good bath, as she'd pooed herself.

Last I heard (last night), she was still at the RSPCA, but doing well so far. When she can be released from the vet's care, she'll go to a carer that has a large avary with other bats to make sure she is fit to fly and fend for herself, then she'll be released.

I hope she goes well. The last one I rescued had to be euthanased. The injuries couldn't be fixed, and she wouldn't be able to fly or fend for herself.