Monday 15 January 2018

Hundreds of flying foxes die in searing Australian heat


More than 400 animals have died in one colony alone as temperatures soar above 47C, causing exhaustion and dehydration

Tue 9 Jan ‘18 11.14 GMTLast modified on Tue 9 Jan ‘18 11.59 GMT

A colony of flying foxes has been nearly wiped out by extreme heat in the Campbelltown suburb of Sydney, according to environmentalists.

The Help Save the Wildlife and Bushlands in Campbelltown campaign posted a series of images to Facebook showing the corpses of the animals lying in the ground, apparently after they had died from dehydration in the soaring temperatures. The group say more than 400 of the animals were lost, many of them juveniles.

Volunteers have been working to save the animals, rehydrating them and taking them to places where they can be kept cool. Temperatures in Sydney reached a near 80-year record high of 47.3C on Sunday.

Cate Ryan, one of the first volunteers on the scene, told media in Australia that “it was unbelievable. I saw a lot of dead bats on the ground and others were close to the ground and dying. I have never seen anything like it before.”



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