Summary Report
Summary of ‘Report on deaths and injuries to Grey-headed Flying-foxes, Pteropus poliocephalus shot in an orchard near Sydney, NSW’
by Anya Divljan, Keryn Parry-Jones, Peggy Eby (2009).
Download full report here
In spring of 2007, a licensee who believed themselves to be acting within the bounds of normal, acceptable industry practice granted permission for flying-foxes to be collected from their orchard during a short period of shooting for crop protection. A large number of animals were killed in a two week period as a result of shooting, a high proportion of animals shot in the orchard sustained significant injuries but were not killed and a high proportion of the adults shot were lactating females whose dependent young would have died of starvation or predation in the camp.
Two weeks of shooting resulted in a total of 164 dead or injured flying-foxes in an orchard. Not all could be collected, and several more were likely to have died outside the orchard. Of 146 flying-foxes collected:
58 autopsies were conducted on dead or euthanased flying-foxes:
· > Several hours: 48%
· > Many hours to days: 28%
by Anya Divljan, Keryn Parry-Jones, Peggy Eby (2009).
Download full report here
In spring of 2007, a licensee who believed themselves to be acting within the bounds of normal, acceptable industry practice granted permission for flying-foxes to be collected from their orchard during a short period of shooting for crop protection. A large number of animals were killed in a two week period as a result of shooting, a high proportion of animals shot in the orchard sustained significant injuries but were not killed and a high proportion of the adults shot were lactating females whose dependent young would have died of starvation or predation in the camp.
Two weeks of shooting resulted in a total of 164 dead or injured flying-foxes in an orchard. Not all could be collected, and several more were likely to have died outside the orchard. Of 146 flying-foxes collected:
- 30% were alive: the majority had to be euthanased.
- 67% were females
- 40% were lactating and thus had dependent young; 9% were carrying a newborn pup (5 pups died with their mother, 8 were passed to a wildlife rehabilitation organisation); the other juveniles would have died in the bat camp due to the death of their mother.
- 5% were pregnant
58 autopsies were conducted on dead or euthanased flying-foxes:
- The majority of animals found dead died of internal haemorrhaging (associated with injury of non-vital organs such as ribs). Few had serious head injuries (more likely to have resulted in rapid death).
- All flying- collected alive and then euthanased had major or multiple injuries to their wings and considerable contusions. If not euthanased they may have suffered many days before dying.
- The likely time to death was estimated based on the extent and type of injuries:
· > Several hours: 48%
· > Many hours to days: 28%