Risk of catching a deadly disease prompts officials to urge people not to touch flying foxes fainting due to rising temperatures

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

Queenslanders have been warned to stay away from bats that have fallen out of the sky, having been knocked out by the state’s heatwave.

With temperatures rising well into the 30s, people have been advised to avoid trying to handle the creatures themselves unless they know what they are doing.

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The creatures can carry diseases that pose a risk to humans and the number of encounters has risen in recent weeks as the heat takes its toll.

Queensland Health said bats, particularly flying foxes, become affected by the heat.

Dr Heidi Carroll, from the communicable diseases unit, said: “That’s where we can run into trouble, because sometimes flying foxes carry lyssavirus, which is a very deadly disease.”

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She said bats fell to the ground for a variety of reasons, but at this time of year and especially as temperatures rose, the most common cause was heat.

“Across Queensland in the last week we’re aware of at least two incidents where bats have fallen to the ground and people have gone to help them,” she said.

“We see over 200 cases per year where people have handled bats and need to call health officials. In recent weeks we’ve seen those numbers increasing, which we expected due to the increasing temperatures.”

People who do find bats on the ground are urged to leave them alone and call a wildlife officer.