Lyssavirus Vaccine A Must For Wires Animal Handlers
Illawarra Mercury
Saturday December 6, 2003
WOLLONGONG vet Michael Cannon gets a lot of injured fruit bats as patients at his Crown St veterinary clinic.
``We would get up to 40 during the breeding season," he said. Dr Cannon said it was best that only those trained to handle bats bring them to his surgery.
He warned members of the public to steer clear of them.
``People should be vaccinated against rabies if they're going to rescue bats, as most of the WIRES people are."
Bats lived in colonies, Dr Cannon said, with the parents taking off regularly in search of food, and the babies left in creches in the care of a few stay-at-home adults.
While there were no permanent colonies in the Illawarra, there were a number of temporary colonies in leafy areas like Mt Kembla and Figtree where food was abundant.
Sandra Leonard, a WIRES carer, has babysat scores of bats at her Minnamurra home. At present she's caring for eight. She said there were a lot of bats on the move this year, probably due to the drought, bushfires and recent high winds that had brought down trees and stripped flowers.
Like all carers trained to handle bats, Ms Leonard has had the rabies vaccine. She reiterated Dr Cannon's warning about leaving the handling of bats to those who have been trained, and vaccinated.
© 2003 Illawarra Mercury
