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Help us save the endangered Spectacled Flying-Fox!

Help us save the endangered Spectacled Flying Fox, an essential pollinator and seed disperser for the wet tropics! We are volunteers working with locals legislators to protect them.

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Help us save the endangered Spectacled Flying-Fox!

Far North Queensland Wildlife Rescue Association (FNQWR)

Queensland Government

Care, Conserve and Community

What do we do?

We work with bat carers, conservation groups and governments and engage with the community to conserve the Spectacled Flying-fox and enable people to live peacefully with all bats.

Founding member of the Spectacled Flying Fox Recovery Team

The Spectacled flying-fox is listed as Endangered internationally on the IUCN Red List, nationally under the EPBC Act and under Queensland’s threatened species legislation. The Australian population has fallen by over 80% since 2004. As a member of the recovery team, we nominated to uplist the SFF to critically endangered and are preparing a new recovery plan with specific actions and funding to recover the population.

Founding member of the Spectacled Flying Fox Recovery Team

We work with local rescue groups, other recovery teams

Each year more than one hundred flying-foxes enter care either as orphaned pups or as injured adults and may be in care for up to six months. Feeding and medications are expensive. We advocate for bat carers and assist them financially through donations we receive. Help us help bats by donating, planting a tree and/or by reporting where you see flying-foxes to our Save Our Flying-foxes Watch program

Report Flying-fox Sighting

We work with local rescue groups, other recovery teams

Community and school education

We engage with the community to raise public awareness through community events and school talks. To book a talk for your community group or school contact our secretary using our Contact Form

Book a talk - Contact Us

Community and school education

Help us save the endangered Spectacled Flying Fox!

Help us save the endangered Spectacled Flying Fox!

Join us on Patreon

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Frequently asked questions

Learn about Flying Fox

Get the facts on bats

: Remember if you see a bat in trouble, hanging low or on the ground, don’t try to help it yourself. Ring your local bat care group (In FNQ, they are: insert numbers for WCFNQ and FNQWR and Tolga Bat Hospital)) and a vaccinated rescuer will contact you and rescue the bat.

A tiny proportion of bats may carry a potentially deadly disease called lyssavirus, but it is only transmissible by bites or open scratches contaminated by an infected bat’s saliva. If you don’t touch bats, you are safe from disease.

It is perfectly safe to be under bats in a camp or under trees where they are feeding. We do ask you to try not to disturb them though.

If by some mischance, you are bitten or scratched by any bat, wash the wound site with soap and water for five minutes, apply an antiseptic and visit your doctor or local hospital to obtain post exposure vaccination. This vaccination is 100% effective if you receive it before onset of symptoms.

For more information see Australasian Bat Scoiety’s Bat fact: Bats and your health - link to BatFacts tab on ausbats.org.au)
: Spectacled flying-foxes are hardworking fly-in fly-out foresters of the night keeping our world heritage wet tropics rainforest healthy and diverse.
: Flying-foxes move pollen and seeds longer distances than any other animal and feed in two or more remnant forests in the one night maintaining genetic biodiversity that helps our forests withstand climate change and other threats
: The Australian population of spectacled flying-foxes declined over 75% between 2004 and 2017. This was followed by a loss of 23.000 individual animals (32% of the remaining population) in a heat wave in November 2018. The main causes are habitat loss through continuing vegetation clearing, climate change and cyclones. Another cyclone or heat stress event could wipe them out.

You can help by planting a tree and letting us know where you see flying-foxes through our Save Our Flying-foxes Watch program.
: Flying-foxes use camps like backpackers use hostels- they are always on the move following the food resources but there are camps they use regularly at various times of the year. Most camps are seasonal but some places you can see them in the wild at some time during the year include Daintree River, Anderson Street Conservation Area in Cairns, Tolga Scrub, Port Duglas and Gordonvale. When melaleucas are flowering you can find them on Cairns’ northern beaches. They also visit islands off-shore from Cairns.

The Bat Tourism trail is coming and it will have details of all camps and the most likely time to see them- in the meantime check out the Australasian Bat Night program and Find a Bat Night near You or contact us with your location and we’ll let you know where your nearest flying-foxes are.

You can get close up to a flying-fox at Tolga Bat Hospital (link), BatReach Kuranda (link) or see the newly arrived flying-fox group at Hartley’s Crocodile Adventures.

Our Team

An energetic group of diverse volunteers, passionate about saving the flying foxes population and all bats of Far North Queensland!

Maree Treadwell Kerr

President, Head Bat

Maree, is an ecologist and wildlife communicator, and has been active in flying-fox conservation and community education for over 30 years with a particular interest in bat tourism.
- Instagram
- Twitter
Hilary Whitehouse

Vice President, Wise Bat

Associate Professor Hilary Whitehouse is an expert in climate change and sustainability education. She began direct involvement with flying-foxes during the heat stress event of 2018, where 23,000 flying-foxes died.
Sera Steves

Secretary, Secretary Bat

Sera grew up with bat conservation in USA and brought this experience to Australia. She is an ecologist and ethologist with experience in delivering wildlife presentations and chairs the Spectacled Flying-fox Recovery Team.
- Instagram
Brynn Mathews

Treasurer

Brynn has an extensive background in conservation advocacy< He has been involved in saving the SFF over many years and brings legal expertise and local knowledge to the team.
Rebecca Koller

Flying-fox Coordinator

Rebecca is a wildlife artist and the key flying-fox carer in the Cairns region, managing rehabilitation and release of orphaned and injured flying-foxes. She works closely with the bat hospitals and wildlife care groups mentoring and training new carers.
Gaby Schierenbeck

BatSoc committee member

Gaby has been involved in flying-fox rescue for over ten years and has the keenest eyes and ears for orphaned flying-foxes needing care.
Larni Gryphon

BatSoc committee member

Lar Ni is the newest member of the BatSoc team and is a long term volunteer with CAFNEC and campaigns for climate change action and wildlife conservation.
Heather Owen

BatSoc committee member

Heather has been involved in spectacled flying-fox advocacy and care for over 10 years and is our specialty carer for premature and newborn orphaned pups.