BATZILLA THE BAT

By Cayla Dengate
10/11/2015
The day I spoke to flying fox carer Denise Wade, she was taking a group of bats to fly for the first time after they came into the conservation centre that she set up in Australia. At home, some baby bats were sleeping under a handmade blanket. This is a normal day for Wade, who looks after flying foxes -- commonly called bats -- and shares her stories, videos and photos as Batzilla the Bat. She mostly cares for baby flying foxes without mothers or older injured animals. She says there is an important message behind the cute videos. “Flying foxes are so misunderstood,” Wade said. “That’s the purpose of my page -- to educate people because they have such a bad name and people need to realise bats are under threat and if we don’t do anything, we might lose them.” Wade is the volunteer flying fox coordinator at Bat Conservation and Rescue QLD and sometimes has more than 60 bats in her care. She said it all started nine years ago when she met a flying fox at a conservation event. “When I met my first flying fox, I couldn’t believe it,” Wade said. “I fell in love and pretty quickly decided to get a special licence to rehabilitate them.” “We are predators to them but flying foxes work us out very quickly and know that we are not going to hurt them,” Wade said. There is one rule you should keep in mind about bats according to Ms Wade: “We tell people the simple rule is ‘no touch, no risk’. If you see a bat in trouble, leave it to the wildlife carers.”