by Carla Caruso

This time of year isn’t just busy for festivals in Adelaide. It’s also a hectic time for rescuing young bats who’ve got themselves into strife.

In fact, it can get a little, dare we say it, bat-crazy during March.

Just ask Sue Westover, who’s the chair and co-ordinator of Bat Rescue SA. She guides a team of about 40 volunteers, who help to rescue or foster sick, injured or orphaned flying foxes and microbats around Adelaide.

Most of the bats, of course, come from the famed colony in Botanic Park (Park 11), where its grey-headed flying foxes have sometimes numbered up to 30,000.

*Sue Westover with her ‘creche’ of bats at home, currently totalling 42. Photo: Bat Rescue SA.*

“The end of September [when the bats are born] through until March is a really busy time for us,” Sue says.

“At the moment, the juveniles are starting to fly out from the [Botanic Park] colony at night and a lot of them find themselves getting into trouble; they land in places they shouldn’t.

“We’ve done over 200 rescues already this season and we’re not even at the end of the season yet.”

A big problem is bats getting electric shocks on powerlines. In most cases, if they aren’t killed instantly, they have to be euthanised.

“The juveniles have to build up their wing muscles. They can’t fly very far, very quickly, so they’ll rest on the powerlines,” Sue explains.

“Of course, when they go to take off, both wings hit the powerline and they become electrocuted.”

Sue says the flying foxes enjoy feeding on eucalyptus blossoms - particularly the white and yellow ones as they’re “iridescent and they can see them at night”. Figs, meanwhile, are “like chocolate” to them. Photo: Bat Rescue SA.

Sue works closely with SA Power Networks, which has been coming up with ways to protect the bats – and the power supply – through such things as insulating lines or using line-spreaders.

Other things that can cause disruption for the Botanic Park colony include major events like WOMADelaide.

“It’s really the setup and the pack-down of these things that upsets them; it’s not the actual music,” Sue says.

“Festivals aren’t too bad for the bats. They do cope quite well with it. [But] there were a lot of problems last year with the bats freaking out because of all the scaffolding of the stage showing up, and the fencing.

“So, this year, they’ve had to do all the setup at night after flyout.” (Researchers are currently looking into what impact the festival is really having on the mammals.)

*Sue at home with the bats in her care. Photo: Bat Rescue SA.*

Most of the Botanic Park colony flies out at dusk each night. “They all fly out in different directions to feed overnight, and then in the morning, just before sun-up, they all fly back into the colony,” Sue says.

For the former nurse, the spark to start up the organisation occurred three years ago while volunteering with Fauna Rescue. “We had a massive year, where we had over 400 bats in care, and it became apparent to me that we needed to have an organisation dedicated just to the bats – especially the flying foxes, with the increase in the colony.” (Fauna Rescue still has a small section that also looks after bats in SA, too.)

“We’re lucky compared to interstate,” Sue continues. “The bats are really respected here. There are very few people who don’t like having them, I think because they’re sort of new and it’s a novelty.

“Pretty much if you go half an hour before sunset [to Botanic Park], you can have a look at them in the colony and then watch them fly out,” Sue says. “It is a magnificent sight. The best vantage point is on Plane Tree Drive.” Photo: Christopher Bollen.

“[The flying foxes] came in 2010 from Victoria [as] they’re losing all their habitat. Of course, Adelaide’s beautiful and green and there’s lots for them to eat [compared to interstate].”

While some suburban gardeners do complain about bats feasting on their fruit trees, Sue says people can get wildlife-friendly netting to deal with this, if so desired.

Plus, she says: “You’ve just got to learn to be patient and learn how to live with them. They’re an amazing species; they’re vital.

“They’re a keystone species because they’re pollinators and seed dispersers, so we need them. After bushfires, they help to regenerate the bushland. They’re on the vulnerable species list too.”

(As previously reported, the city colony here is under threat due to the expansion of Botanic High in Frome Park / Nellie Raminyemmerin Park.)

At present, the organisation is going through about 15kg of apples per day to feed their rescued bats. As the organisation doesn’t get any government funding, they’re always in need of donations. Photo: Bat Rescue SA.

Catching diseases directly from flying foxes is extremely unlikely. However, they are known to carry two life-threatening viruses, Hendra virus and Australian bat lyssavirus, so only experienced rescuers, who’ve been appropriately vaccinated, should handle them.

Nevertheless, Sue says there’s plenty to love about the critters.

They might not make good pets but according to Sue: “They do have characters and they’re actually four times more intelligent than a dog.”