The Pet Tree House - Where Pets Are Family Too : It's Raining Bats in Australia - Thousands of Bats Killed in Queensland Heatwave The Pet Tree House - Where Pets Are Family Too : It's Raining Bats in Australia - Thousands of Bats Killed in Queensland Heatwave

Thursday, January 9, 2014

It's Raining Bats in Australia - Thousands of Bats Killed in Queensland Heatwave


As most of the U.S. freezes and the UK drowns in floods, a blistering heat wave in Australia is so bad 100,000 cooked bats have fallen out of the sky, dead.

Southern Queensland is being gripped by furnace-like temperatures, said the local Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA).

This has in turn caused mass deaths with at least 25 separate colonies wiped out since the weekend, including at Mt Ommaney, Redbank, Boonah, Palmwoods, Laidley and Gatton.

As many as 100,000 of the winged mammals fell from the sky and died, the result of an incredible heat wave, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reports.

Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals spokesman Michael Beatty told ABC that the heat wave, with temperatures close to 109 degrees Fahrenheit, was "basically a catastrophe for all the bat colonies in southeast Queensland."

'That's obviously going to have a pretty disturbing impact on those colonies and those colonies are vital to our ecosystem."

Hundreds of bats also lie dead in trees and nearby bushes, and are being eaten by maggots.

The council today advised local residents it will not send workers into nearby bushland to collect the remaining bat carcasses, as it could cause further disruption to the nearby colony.

One resident has told ABC she is receiving anti-viral treatment after being scratched by a baby bat while clearing the dead animals out of her tree with a rake.

All told, massive deaths at 25 separate colonies have been reported, according to ABC.

In the aftermath, one person recorded the numbers of fallen bats in a nearby forest. Warning: Some may find the video below disturbing.




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