Hundreds of Baby Flying Foxes Are Rescued After a Heat Wave in Australia

http://www.takepart.com/article/2014/11/19/hundreds-baby-flying-foxes-are-rescued-after-heat-wave-australia?cmpid=tpdaily-eml-2014-11-20

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Orphaned flying-fox pups bundled up for transport. (Photo: WIRED)

Experts estimate that as many as 5,000 have died.

November 19, 2014 By Kristina Bravo

Kristina Bravo is Assistant Editor at TakePart.

This week’s scorching heat in New South Wales, Australia, has killed an estimated 5,000 flying fox bats and injured about 400 pups that are now recovering at rescue centers.

Temperatures soared to 111 degrees Fahrenheit on Saturday, reported The Daily Telegraph, causing many flying foxes to drop dead from trees. Authorities have been cleaning up the grisly pileup since.

“Some areas along the riverbank are inaccessible and the stench from the rotting carcasses will be quite unbearable for some time yet,” John Walker, a local council manager, told the Telegraph.

“People should avoid the area and not try to help living bats themselves as they could bite and scratch and some carry the [rabies-like] lyssavirus.”

The nonprofit rescue organization WIRES has coordinated care for about 400 surviving pups.

FULL story at link.