Orphaned pups show a ‘cuddlier’ side to Australian bats

By Efrosini Costa

Orphaned pups show a ‘cuddlier’ side to Australian bats
These adorable orphaned bat pups are changing the way we view our nocturnal winged friends.

What’s cuter than an orphaned baby bat swaddled in baby blankets? A veterinary clinic full of orphaned baby bats swaddled in baby blankets!

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The Australian Bat Clinic & Wildlife Trauma Centre in eastern Australia’s Gold Coast Hinterland takes in baby bats (called ‘pups’) when their mothers have died.

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The clinic also treats adult bats that are afflicted by mites and other bat diseases.

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The baby blankets they wrap the young bat pups in aren’t just to make them look adorable – if the baby bats have been orphaned, they lack the warm embrace of their mothers’ wings, so these blankets are the next best thing.

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Australia is home to nearly 100 different species of bats, between 25 and 30 of which reside in the region where the Australian Bat Clinic is located.

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Unfortunately the winged critters are often given a bad rap and perceived as ‘bad’ or ‘evil’.

The clinic hopes by sharing these images and video it will change our minds!

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Trish Wimberley is one of the clinics bat caretakers and looks after hundreds of orphaned baby bats and rears them until they can be released into the wild. It’s a tireless, never ending job which keeps her awake all hours (she apparently went 3 nights without sleeping once). A typical day may include feeding (the food is about $1000 a week), health checks, doing their laundry (the dryer and washing machine electricity bill costs up to $8000 every 3 or 4 months!), bat transportation for release — everything they need in order to survive. You’d think she’d need an army of people to help but she makes do with only a few loyal volunteers.

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It just goes to show, motherhood can transcend between all species and Trish is happy playing that role to assist a creature that is vital to the Australian ecosystem.

Watch:

For more info on Trish & the work of the Australian bat clinic & wildlife trauma centre go here: ‪http://australianbatclinic.com.au/‬

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