Submitted by Gitie on 11 January, 2013 - 09:27
by Yvonne Morrin (Bats Qld)
Now I have finished my course of vaccinations, I have finally started rescuing. My first bat was entangled in fishing line with a fishing hook embedded in her side – the constriction injury was severe, and she was euthanized.
The second had been up a food tree for a week without flying away, and appeared to have a wing injury. He could clamber around the tree perfectly well, just out of reach of my pole! Finally I got him to the ground, and he began to crawl, his wing injury very apparent now. Unfortunately he was a euthanasia case too.
Submitted by Gitie on 28 March, 2012 - 21:35
By Peter Richards from Long Grass Wiildlife Refuge and Bats Qld
In previous years Gabi and I have had microbats come in to care and those that did we had little success with. We became quite somewhat despondent about the prospect of rearing more microbats only for them to die after a couple of weeks. This year however has been different. Since the beginning of December 2011 we took 9 microbats into care and lost two of them. One of the deaths was pretty well unavoidable. A bat that was passed on to us from Australia Zoo as simply requiring a rest before being released turned out to be paralysed and had multiple injuries. The second death was a 3g furless baby that survived for 27 days and then succumbed to what I think was inhalation pneumonia after she was switched from syringe feeding to lapping as she had a habit of putting her whole nose in the milk. I will stick with syringe feeding these young ones from now on.
We have improved our microbat facilities during this season. The inner lining of a 2 man tent made a perfect bat house in the corner of our office. The tent is free-standing, lightweight, roomy and totally bat proof.
Submitted by Gitie on 24 March, 2012 - 15:32
It's not too late to help - visit - dontshootbats.com to find out how you can help and for more information on bats.
"Full exclusion netting is the only reliable method" - NSW Govt (Dept of Environment & Climate Change)
Unfortunately LNP has announced plans to shoot bats instead of following progressive ways that actually work. Let your pollies know that these bad old ways are no longer acceptable.
Sign the petition at: http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/don-t-shoot-bats.html
Submitted by Gitie on 4 March, 2012 - 22:53
2012 sees the continuation of the Year of the Bat.
Abandoned mines although unsuitable for human use can provide much needed habitat for bats and wildlife. In the United States alone there are over 48,000 abandoned mines. Abandoned mines are like caves and non-destructive mine closures are those where features such as bat gates, cupolas and other preservation tools have been installed to help bats (or other wildlife depending on the location) use the mines for refuge.
Bat Conservation International and the US Bureau of Land Management have combined their efforts to create a guide that helps determine the best closure type for mine openings. On their dedicated site http://www.batgating.com they provide a wealth of information as well a decision matrix tool to help land managers and conservation groups evaluate a closed land mine, or a mine targeted for closure and determine the most suitable mine opening. There is also a wealth of information on closure types, materials, considerations, and other expert material.
Such re-purposing is great news for bats and other wildlife and hopefully a turning point as more unusable mines are converted to help conservation efforts across the globe.
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Now I have finished my course of vaccinations, I have finally started rescuing. My first bat was entangled in fishing line with a fishing hook embedded in her side – the constriction injury was severe, and she was euthanized. 
Abandoned mines although unsuitable for human use can provide much needed habitat for bats and wildlife. In the United States alone there are over 48,000 abandoned mines. Abandoned mines are like caves and non-destructive mine closures are those where features such as bat gates, cupolas and other preservation tools have been installed to help bats (or other wildlife depending on the location) use the mines for refuge.
