Premature Flying Fox Births Surge Across NSW, Stunning Wildlife Carers

Experienced wildlife carers in New South Wales have been overwhelmed by an unprecedented surge of premature flying fox births across the state. Since late September, wildlife rescue groups have responded to over 460 reports of malnourished grey-headed flying foxes affected by a suspected starvation event prior to the October birthing season.

Unhealthy Births and High Mortality Rates

Flying foxes born under the healthy weight range have a heightened risk of death. Volunteer rescue organisation For Australian Wildlife Needing Aid (FAWNA) estimated that about 95 per cent of pups born prematurely will die in care.

Ecologist and wildlife carer on the central coast Kerryn Parry-Jones said she became alarmed after volunteers began encountering hundreds of premature bats, some weighing less than 40 grams. "People are finding little baby bats on the ground, sometimes with the placenta and umbilical cords still attached," Dr Parry-Jones said. "I've never seen large numbers of premature babies coming in like this. The level of death has been huge."

Rise in Early Births and Struggling Wildlife Carers

Co-ordinator with Wildlife Rescue South Coast (WRSC) Trista Thorpe said volunteers began receiving "abnormal" reports of malnourished bats in late September. "Those calls just kept increasing and increasing, then we began to get aborted babies in," Ms Thorpe said. By October, Ms Thorpe said volunteers were responding to dozens of calls per day, recovering dead and sick flying foxes and premature pups at roosting sites and residential properties across the Shoalhaven.

"The smallest one I have weighed was only 38 grams; a newborn [pup] should be born at about 80 or 90 grams," she said. Many of the flying foxes taken into care have been found to be extremely emaciated.

Extent of the Crisis and Possible Causes

FAWNA NSW president Meredith Ryan said the trend had been recorded as far north as Kempsey in recent weeks, where volunteers were encountering dozens of deceased pups daily. Ms Ryan said that while starvation events and mass fatalities were common in flying fox populations, the recent rate of premature births was unprecedented. "We've never had this massive amount of pup mortality," Ms Ryan said. "I've been dealing with bats for 30 years, and I haven't seen a season like this."

Recent testing by the Australian Registry of Wildlife Health of flying fox cadavers recovered from the Illawarra has confirmed the animals were "severely emaciated" at time of death. A spokesperson from the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water said the cause of the starvation event and premature births remained a mystery. "It is believed these cases of emaciated flying foxes could be related to temporary shortfalls in available food, but there's no confirmed cause," the spokesperson said.

Rescue Efforts and Challenges

Wildlife carers are pushed to the brink due to the frequency of reports, limited volunteer numbers and long distances between sites. Due to the high price of the lyssavirus vaccine required to safely handle bats, both FAWNA and WRSC only have approximately 40 volunteers available to respond to callouts. WRSC volunteers are now caring for 53 flying foxes at their clinic in Nowra while also responding to multiple daily reports of sick bats or deceased bats, sometimes more than an hour away.

Ms Thorpe said she hasn't slept for 48 hours due to the demands of feeding and cleaning required to keep the bats alive. "Because the babies are coming in so tiny at the moment, they're all on two-hourly feeds, 24 hours a day," she said. "So we're not getting much sleep in between all of that."

Dr Parry-Jones said while the number of flying foxes who have died at colony sites near the central coast could likely be "in the thousands", the exact numbers can't be confirmed until the immediate crisis is over. "We won't know until the end of the season just how awful it is."