Help save the one of the world’s largest flying mammals when you volunteer with our Bat Rescue Project in the scenic Atherton Tablelands of Queensland, Australia.

As a volunteer with our Bat Rescue Program, you’ll have the rare opportunity to help preserve Australia’s struggling bat population. Though bats are often an unjustly maligned group of animals, those who work with them soon discover that they are inquisitive, charismatic and intelligent. Working at a bat hospital and rescue center on the edge of a beautiful rain forest, volunteers help rescue, rehabilitate and release several species of bats, including the Spectacled Flying Fox.

Australia’s flying fox bats are being decimated by habitat loss, climate change and hazards such as nets and barbed wire fences. Their loss would harm the forest ecosystems that depend on Australia’s four species of flying fox. Our partner organization works primarily with the Spectacled Flying Fox, a species vulnerable to extinction that faces the added threat of tick paralysis. The organization works to rescue the bats, restore their habitat and change the public’s perception about this endangered and beautiful mammal.

Under the guidance of your project coordinator, volunteers on this project help rescue the tick-paralyzed bats and care for injured and orphaned bats. Work includes searching the bat colonies daily for paralysed and orphaned bats, caring for those orphans, feeding baby bats, treating injured bats, preparing food and conducting research. However you spend your time at the hospital, your hard work in Queensland will sustain an amazing and vital bat species as well as the fragile ecosystem that depends on their survival. Those who volunteer outside paralysis tick season (October to February) will help look after the permanent care bats and ones that are harmed by barbed wire and other environmental hazards.



As a volunteer you can:
Clean cages and prepare bat food
Rescue bats who have become entangled in barbed     wire or netting
Assist with ongoing research projects
Help restore vegetation at the bat colony and hospital
Care for orphaned flying foxes
Help run the visitor’s center

Project Length:	Start Dates:
Minimum: 1 month (during busy season, Oct.-Jan.), 2 weeks (Feb-Sept.) Maximum: Negotiable	Any Monday
Program Cost:	Cost Includes:
2 weeks: 4 week: 6 week: Each additional week:	Airport, bus or train station pickup and drop-   off On-site orientation and project training Accommodations Three meals per day In-country support and program coordination 24-hour emergency number Contribution to support the project
Requirements:	Accommodations:
Participants must be open to working with bats and working long hours without a lot of time off if they come during the busy season. They must also get a rabies vaccination if they want to handle bats.	Quiet, shared apartment located on site Living room area Bathroom with hot water Kitchen Outdoor verandah TV/ video Sound system Sheets and towels
Schedule:
The general schedule varies depending on the time of year. The greatest amount of interaction is during the busy season, October-January. Volunteers will work long hours and late nights, with little free time. From January-September the schedule is much more relaxed, with volunteers spending more time with bats in permanent care.