I know it’s been a LONG time
since I last wrote. I’ve been away in Melbourne,
Victoria and Wagga Wagga, New South Wales,
for about two weeks and just got home two days ago. It’s been a whirlwind of
activity, including going to the Penola Cup Race and entering the fashion
competition, attending the Australasian Bat Society Conference in Melbourne,
hanging out in Wagga Wagga while Chris attended a uni class, and driving home
via the scenic Great Ocean Road. I have a lot of catching up to do on the blog,
but that will have to wait a few days while I get settled back in and make time
to write.
For now I just wanted to tell
about a bat-related incident. Last week (while Chris and I were away) a couple
brought in a dead bat to the visitor’s center and said they found it under the
table on their porch. Dannielle, one of the guides, called me about it and I
said to put it in our freezer so I could take a look at it when I got home (it
joined the six or so other dead bats we already had in our freezer). When we
went to the visitor’s center today, the couple was there with another dead bat,
this time a Little Forest Bat (Vespadelus
vulturnus) (the first one was a Lesser Long-eared Bat (Nyctophilus geoffoyi)). They had found it in the same spot as the
first one. I thought it was strange to find two dead bats of different species
in the same place near the same time, so I asked if they had an outdoor cat.
They said yes. I suspect the cat found the bats roosting either in a tree or in
their shed and killed them while playing with them. I told the couple that if
they find any more dead bats to bring them in, and if possible to keep their
cat indoors. This just goes to show that cats are big predators of both bats
and birds and can pose a severe risk to roosting bats. So my take home message
is: if you have cats, keep them indoors. It may be “cute” when your cat brings
you a little present on your doorstep, but consider what that actually means.
They are killing animals that may be protected species (in Australia, ALL bats
are protected species) and that may be suffering population declines due to a
wide range of threats (loss of food/water, loss of roosting sites due to
habitat loss, predation, insecticides, just to name a few). Often cats don’t
even eat the animal they catch, they just play with it until it’s dead. So keep
your cats indoors. They can hunt the mice in your house and help rid you of
pests, all while protecting wild bats and birds.
Lesser Long-eared Bat (left) and Little
Forest Bat (right) probably killed by a cat.
Keep your cats indoors!
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