Australian Biosecurity CRC: Bats are not the bad guys

“The actual virus is uncommon in flying-foxes"

Hendra has given bats a bad name…

“We should think of flying foxes as the canary in the coalmine; they are messengers of what we’re doing to our environment. We shouldn’t be shooting the messengers but regarding them as important indicators of the health of our environment.”

Scientists are starting to think that the recent appearance of Hendra virus is a symptom of bats showing stress as a result to changes we’ve made to the environment. “The actual virus is uncommon in flying-foxes and does not appear to cause them any problems. All indications are that Hendra virus spills over from bats to horses and then from horses to humans – there are no known cases of people contracting Hendra virus from flying-foxes ” says Dr Stephen Prowse, CEO with the Australian Biosecurity CRC.

For more information regarding the Hendra Virus you can visit our Hendra Virus information page

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