Grey-Headed Flying Foxes Face Mass Starvation Across NSW and Victoria
Flying foxes are starving across New South Wales and parts of Victoria as blossom and nectar have run short across large areas. Rescuers describe exhausted and emaciated adults and skeletal pups coming into care in numbers that have overwhelmed local networks The Guardian.
Most reports involve grey-headed flying foxes, large fruit bats that feed mainly on blossom and nectar from flowering native trees. The species is listed as vulnerable under Australia's federal environment laws, a category that means it faces a high risk of decline.
The NSW Environment Department says the shortage stretches across NSW from the northern rivers to the south coast. In Victoria, rescue groups report more callouts, especially in East Gippsland and around Castlemaine.
The flow of animals into care is stretching rescue capacity. Fawna on the NSW mid-north coast is taking 50 to 90 calls a day, more than its total bat callouts for the previous nine months, according to bat coordinator Rachael Smethurst. WIRES and other groups report similar pressure further north and south, as hungry animals stay near isolated food sources rather than return to camps.
WIRES says the event was likely caused by habitat loss made worse by a dry winter with poor seasonal flowering of eucalypts and other natives. A NSW Environment Department spokesperson said shortages can be made worse by climatic events such as drought and El Nino conditions, a Pacific weather pattern linked to hotter and drier weather in eastern Australia.
Signs of reproductive failure have been reported. Hundreds of grey-headed flying foxes have given birth prematurely across New South Wales, according to an ABC report published on 9 October. WIRES has reported many malnourished and dehydrated females in the final month of pregnancy losing their young. Pups born early have little chance without intensive care, and mothers in poor condition often cannot produce enough milk.
More animals on the ground has led to new health guidance. The NSW Health Department has told the public to avoid touching or handling bats after 43 people were assessed for scratches or bites in the past two weeks. The standing guidance for Australian bats is no direct handling without vaccination and training.
This event follows earlier mass deaths. More than 72,000 flying foxes died in eight separate extreme heat events during Australia's Black Summer, and a heatwave in 2018 killed 23,000 animals The Guardian. WIRES noted in its FY24 Impact Report that it supported twelve emergency events including an east coast flying fox starvation event, and NSW documents have long recorded winter food shortages for grey-headed flying foxes. NSW Environment describes loss of foraging and roost habitat as the most significant threat to flying foxes, and notes that when nectar and fruit are scarce over a large area, starving animals may stay close to a food source they have found rather than return to camp.
The broader context here is the overlap of pressures on a vulnerable and highly mobile pollinator. Cleared foraging habitat, variable flowering after a dry winter, and pregnancy timed to late winter and spring leave little buffer when flowering fails across whole landscapes, like shops closing on every street at once. Repeated winter hunger and summer heat deaths shorten recovery time. Rescue numbers give early warning but are not population counts, and longer use of extra feeding raises questions about carrying capacity, camp loyalty and contact where people and wildlife meet. What comes next depends on spring flowering, summer heat and whether pups survive to weaning.
