As thousands of new apartments are built across Australia, an increasing number of wild animals are becoming trapped because of a common design flaw. Many balconies are lined with smooth, shiny surfaces like glass or metal sheets that don’t have gaps or footholds, and flying foxes that accidentally fly into them can’t climb out.
Unlike birds, these bats cannot fly directly upwards, and instead drop from a height and then lift into flight.
Rescuers from Melbourne-based rescue group Fly By Night told Yahoo News it receives dozens of calls each year about the problem, particularly around the Docklands area, where tightly packed buildings create wind tunnels that blow the bats off course.
Founder Tamsyn Hogarth said the trend is “depressing” because it’s entirely avoidable.
She said there are easy solutions to the problem that could help bats escape from these glossy prisons, like incorporating edging that can be climbed by small animals or including gaps.
And residents can also play their part. “If people have plants or even a clothes horse out on their balcony, then the flying foxes can often climb up and get to the top of the balustrade and take off,” she said.
While grey-headed flying foxes may appear plentiful in the sky, their numbers are rapidly decreasing due to climate change, habitat destruction and starvation, and they are listed as threatened with extinction.
Apartments left empty during housing crisis leading to bat deaths
Sadly, most bats are likely never rescued.
A 2023 report found around 100,000 homes in Victoria were either empty or underused, and many of them are apartments.
This flying fox was rescued from an apartment in Abbotsford after neighbours heard tapping. Source: Fly By Night
When flying foxes are forced onto these balconies by sudden gusts of wind, or they land to rest due to exhaustion, they can be stuck for days and slowly starve to death.
“It’s funny, we’re supposed to have a housing crisis, but we’ve got empty units everywhere,” she said.
Tapping sparks bat rescue operation
On the weekend, a 12-week-old flying fox weighing just 380 grams collapsed onto an apartment balcony in the inner-city suburb of Abbotsford.
After the flying fox was rescued from Abbotsford, it was fed and later released into the wild. Source: Fly By Night
The apartment had been left empty for some time, and there was no access to food or water.
“Most people aren’t interested in what’s happening in their neighbour’s units, but the neighbours heard him tapping and got the property manager to investigate,” Hogarth said.
“If they’d had their music up loud or the TV on, no one would have known he was there, and he would have slowly perished.
“It’s quite sad to think these animals, especially early in life, are dying in these concrete jungles.”
Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@yahoonews.com.
You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube.