Nana Bea
The flying foxes are dropping their babies early. Hundreds of them, up and down the coast, and the carers have never seen anything like it.
Since late September there have been more than 460 reports of starving grey-headed flying foxes, from the Illawarra and the Shoalhaven up to Kempsey. The pups are coming at 38 to 40 grams, when a healthy newborn is 80 to 90. FAWNA reckons about 95 per cent of the premature ones will die in care. One coordinator, Trista Thorpe, hadn't slept for two days, feeding every two hours. The federal department says it may be a temporary shortfall in food. The dead ones tested as severely emaciated.
Here's what I know from my own paddock. Flying foxes eat blossom and fruit, and this year the flowering's been thin and late. They're pollinators. They carry the eucalypt forest's seed and pollen further than any bee. When they starve, the forest is telling you something before the forest itself shows it.
If you find one on the ground, don't touch it. Ring FAWNA or your local wildlife rescue. The vaccine for handling bats costs a fortune, which is why there are only forty volunteers for a disaster this size. That's the bit that keeps me up.
Source: ABC News, 2026-10-10
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