Well, lucky I did my regular rounds today near port of Brisbane.
On my last street I found this little black flying fox, male, caught up on a high security fence in barb wire. middle strand. There was two guard dogs I had to entertain while I waited for another bat rescuer to arrive. (thanks Marg). So while Marg was getting the bat off the wire, I 'tried' to keep the dogs away. One wanted to play and the other wanted to have a go at me.
He should be OK, however we was very close to giving him the bad needle.
Right hand wing/arm and fingers damaged and blood flow not good. He took plenty of juice and medicine went down OK. He is an in an incubator to keep warm and we will see how he survives the night.
From a rescue I did a while back ( see; Rescue - 13/05/2012 - Lytton, Queensland ) I went back in that area once a week. Then every two weeks. Probably should go back to once a week now. I just drive up and down a couple of streets at about 25 or so km/h looking at the barb wire.
So if anyone is not far from this area.. would be great if you could do a drive by and check the fences for bats caught on barb wire. Not just the streets in the pic below, as I will do them, but the other streets around this area. Having said that, if you are out and about.. anywhere in the world, that has bats, please take note of areas with lots of barb wire fences and take a glance.
First thing to do is put a towel, for example over the bat and then call your animal rescue.
More info on barb wire can be found at www.bats.org.au or I am sure your favorite bat site will have info. or here; barbed-wire
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