Christmas Island Pipistrelle Rescue

The Australian Government will invest $1.5 million to begin the rescue of Christmas Island’s ecosystem. 

Including a mission to capture the last remaining Pipistrelle bats for captive breeding. The Christmas Island Pipistrelle (Pipistrellus murrayi) is found only on Christmas Island, Australia. It is a small bat weighing around 3 to 4.5 grams.

“Volunteers and help from the Australasian Bat Society will be invaluable in this capture effort.” “My top priority now is to prevent any further extinctions and to restore the island’s environmental health,” Mr Garrett said.

Parks Australia will work in partnership with Australian zoos on a captive breeding program, should the capture attempt be successful.

Brisbane Bat Chatter, 7th Edition (June-August ‘09)

Click here to download the latest edition of the popular, Brisbane Bat Chatter newsletter  (PDF, 832KB)

Some of the hot topics this edition:

- Welcome to our newest members!

- AGM and Awards Evening

- BCB Helps the U.S. Army in Iraq

- ‘Going Batty’ the new kids book

- President’s Report

- Gilbert’s Diary

- and lots more…

Living With Bats - A Landcare Placestories Project by BCB

Bat Care Brisbane is a self-funded volutneer organisation. It’s members are permitted under the Environment Protection Agency to care for sick, injured and orphaned flying-foxes and micro-bats.

Bat Care Brisbane covers 3,000km2 of the greater Brisbane region.

We also aim to improve the local environment for our urban bats by planting trees, giving talks with education animals and by reducing the risks of harm. Bats suffer from ignorance within the community and bad media when they are truely forest heroes that we should protect.

Currently Bat Care Brisbane is working towards the minimisation of environmental threats to flying-foxes and microbats.

The Wildlife Friendly Fencing Project

More information available at wildlifefriendlyfencing.com

The Wildlife Friendly Fencing project is raising awareness of the impact of barbed wire and netting on Australian wildlife and developing guidelines for good practice.

Barbed wire is both an animal welfare and conservation issue, as it is now being recognised as a threatening process in the draft / recovery plans for a number of species. These include the Yellow-bellied glider (Petaurus australis), the Magogany glider (Petaurus gracilis), the Spectacled flying fox (Pteropus conspicillatus) and Grey-headed flying fox (Pteropus poliocephalis).

For more information please visit: 

wildlifefriendlyfencing.com

Threats to Flying-Foxes - new educational posters available

DID YOU KNOW? Flying-foxes are Australia's most successful long distance pollinators and seed dispersers. Making them an integral part of the long-term survival of our native forests!

Bat Care Brisbane had the honor of submitting two education posters at the recent Breaking the Barriers: Engineering Solutions to Ecological Problems Symposium.

The symposium was hosted by the Environment Institute of Australia and New Zealand (South East Queensland Division) and was tailored to cover all aspects of effective planning, design, construction, maintenance, research, monitoring and evaluation of wildlife mitigation measures around linear infrastructure. Topics catered to both infrastructure and environmental practitioners.

To view the new posters click below:

Bats and Electrocution poster(220k)

Bats and Barbed-Wire poster(236k)

The Grey Headed Flying-Fox Needs Your Help

Click here to sign the petition

Even though grey-headed flying foxes are faced with the threat of extinction, the NSW Government continues to issue permits to shoot them.

It’s currently the only state where this practise is still legal. Queensland has already banned the shooting of flying foxes for crop protection on the grounds it is both cruel and ineffective. It’s time NSW did the same.

Many of those killed are breeding females who are often left wounded to die a slow and painful death. They leave behind orphaned young, who then die from hunger and thirst.

Click here to visit the Greycross.org petition and show your support

New Bat Chatter up!

The latest newsletter is up now, here.

Gilbert now on Facebook!

Yes, our very own Gilbert has a Facebook, and would love you to come along to visit him! (Our thanks to Gilbert’s friend, Keely, for helping manage the keyboard and signup - wings and claws make typing so hard!)

Bat Care Brisbane also has a Facebook, and a Cause Page. Do pop along and friend them.

Backyard Fruit Tree Netting - a cruel death trap for nocturnal wildlife.

This bat was found in a gutter in Windsor after someone had cut her from their inappropriately netted fruit tree and left her to die. Tangled in the net she crawled to the road where she was found by a morning jogger. Neil knew to call our Bat Care Brisbane 24 hr helpline and did not attempt to rescue her. If she happened to bite or scratch him she would have to be killed and tested for ABLV. Our members are vaccinated and trained to handle suffering and distressed bats. This was an unnecessary and cruel end to a beautiful healthy female. A vulnerable species and a lactating mum, so her baby is left to die back at the flying-fox camp. With fine finger bones and delicate membrane, which make up her wings, this winged angel had to be euthanased due to her awful injuries all because of bad netting practice.

We are currently getting a higher than normal number of rescues for bats caught in backyard fruit tree netting – especially in exotic Jerusalem fig trees. Please do not use fine nets draped over your fruit trees. Nocturnal wildlife smell the fruit but do not see the net and can become hopelessly entangled by it. DO NOT try to remove the animal yourself as you may get bitten, as any animal in pain and frightened may bite. Our local Brisbane volunteers are trained and vaccinated against ABLV so please call us. We can help you find an alternative to netting – it can be as simple as throwing a bed sheet over the  fruit tree at night while it is in fruit – for other ideas see our  “Garden fruit Trees and Wildlife” brochure.

Batty gifts to help conservation

Don’t forget you can help your own local Bat Care organisation with a donation. Finances are tight, and with the current inundation of orphans, every dollar helps! Sponsoring an orphan or education flying fox in the name of a loved one or friend makes a great, throughful gift that costs nothing in wrapping paper or delivery, but delivers happy bats and happier friends