Hello Beserkers! As many of you all know, at Beserk we LOVE animals!! So much so that we support and have a page on our site of which animal charities we love and adore!! Of course all of them deserve your support but today we will be focusing on our friends at Shoalhaven Bat Clinic and Sanctuary!
WHO ARE SHOALHAVEN BAT CLINIC AND WHAT DO THEY DO? -
Their facility has a small clinic with ICU facilities, a fit-for-purpose mobile rescue trailer and aviaries for all stages of the rehabilitation process, from creche all the way up to release! Shoalhaven Bat Clinic also have an off-site release aviary for flying foxes, close to the local flying-fox camp! How incredible is that!!? At Shoalhaven, they provide a 24/7 rescue service across their licenced area. They support and work with other organisations in coordinating emergency response preparedness. At Shoalhaven, they educate the public and work with National Parks, New South Wales Wildlife Council and other organisations to manage emergency and mass events!
Their facility is located on private property and is entirely operated by volunteers, how amazing!! The Shoalhaven Bat Clinic is managed by current species coordinator, the knowledgeable Trista Kyriacou, who has been working with flying foxes and microbats since 2014! She is supported by a team of dedicated volunteers who are delegated cleaning duties, food preparation, rehabilitation support, rescues and feeding activities for the bats in care!! That's a lot of hard work!! The Shoalhaven Bat Clinic is home to the Grey Headed Flying Fox as well as over 33 known species of microbats! Their area has also been known to have small numbers of Little Red Flying Foxes and Black flying Foxes from time to time too!!
SHOALHAVEN BAT CLINIC'S BELIEFS AND VALUES -
At Shoalhaven Bat clinic their Beliefs and values are -
- Wildlife Rescue South Coast subscribes to the NSW and international code of ethics for wildlife rehabilitators!
- Wildlife Rescue South Coast opposes the culling of native animals where the motivation for the action is convenience or profit!
- Shoalhaven Bat Clinic are not in favour of keeping Australian native animals as pets!
- Wildlife Rescue South Coast is strongly opposed to recreational hunting!
- Shoalhaven Bat Clinic encourages responsible pet ownership, especially in regard to preventing damage to wildlife and their habitat!
WHY SHOULD WE HELP BATS, WHAT IS THEIR PURPOSE? -
Although Bats may be super cute! That's not their only feature! Bats include some of the most important and misunderstood animals in Australia! They play an essential role in pest control and seed dispersal. Flying-foxes are our nighttime pollinators, with many Australian native species flowering during the night! They can travel a distance of around 60 km each night, making them our only long-distance pollinator and vital in keeping our environment flourishing and keeping our forests healthy! Who would've known?!
Microbats also play a critical role in our ecosystem as insectivores, devouring around 40% of their body weight in flying insects per night, including disease carrying mosquitoes!! Woah!! They provide an economic value for farmers by providing natural and free pest control and benefits the health of trees, pastures, crops and revegetated areas. Without bats, many ecosystems would gradually die!
In the USA, where microbats numbers declined due to "white nose syndrome," Experts have estimated the cost of that decline to US agriculture to be several billion dollars!!
WHO DO BATS COME INTO CARE AT SHOALHAVEN? -
Unfortunately there are many reasons that Flying foxes and Microbats come into care at Shoalhaven Bat Clinic! Ranging from Fruit tree netting and Barbed wire entanglement, Cocos palm poisoning, orphaned babies, Domestic animal and predator attacks, powerline electrocution, roost disturbances, tree felling, heat or cold stress events and so much more! Fear not though!! Thanks to the incredible people at Shoalhaven these beautiful creatures can be rescued, rehabilitated and released back where they belong!!
HOW CAN YOU HELP SHOALHAVEN AND THEIR MISSION? -
There are so many things you can do to support our friends at Shoalhaven Bat Clinic ranging from donating to their cause, volunteering to help, implementing Tree hollows and Nest boxes in your local area and even using a safer fencing and netting alternative to prevent our bat friends getting entangled! If you're interested in seeing how you can help Shoalhaven Bat Clinic they actually have a page on how you can help in your own way - here! If cannot do anything of this sort be sure to follow them on social media (facebook, instagramand twitter!) to support and follow along their mission!
Be kind to animals and be sure to stay spooky!!
- Beserk xx
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