Media Release

Please find a press release about the desperate situation for Flying-foxes occurring across the east coast at the present time.

Flying-foxes are suffering a starvation event right now in SE Qld with an increase in calls to our service for rescues for hungry bats

Due to hunger there is an increase in the need for rescues as bats attempt to get food from the ground therefore we are getting more attacks from domestic animals. They also try to land in fruiting flowering trees near barbed-wire so we are experiencing an increase in our work load not only for the rescue but also in the intensive care required when bats are injured.

This is an animal welfare issue we want to alert the public to. In the winter of 2007 we suffered an extreme food shortage for bats, many people left them to die in their backyards because it is assumed no one cares for these animals. We are passionate about our work and concerned that the disease hysteria is totally out of proportion in the minds of the public – we hear it constantly.

Please assist in community awareness about this problem by passing this email on.

Thank you

Kind Regards,

Louise Saunders

(0425 73 4008)