Tolga Bat Hospital, An Australian Sanctuary that Offers Rehabilitation for Bats In Need

The wonderful Tolga Bat Hospital, located near Cairns, North Queensland Australia, provides loving rescue, rehabilitation and sanctuary services for injured or abandoned bats, who are either slowly released back into the wild or remain in the sanctuary for the rest of their lives.

Tolga Bat Hospital works for the conservation of bats and their habitat. We do this by:

• the rescue, rehabilitation and release of hundreds of bats each year
• the provision of lifetime sanctuary for many bats that are too severely injured to return to the wild or have been retired from zoos
• education about bats through schools and the onsite Visitor Centre
• habitat restoration work at 2 colonies, Tolga Scrub and Lakeside
• facilitating research into flying foxes by various universities and government bodies
• advocating for bats
• providing a rich volunteering experience at the hospital

We are a not-for-profit community group, a Landcare group and a registered charity that aims to improve the public’s perception and understanding of bats. The group takes its name from the nearby Tolga Scrub, a fragment of critically endangered Mabi rainforest that is home to up to a million fruit bats at some times of the year.

images via Tolga Bat Hospital