General News
12 October, 2026
Protecting baby flying foxes
IT’S baby bat season for endangered spectacled flying-foxes and conservationists are trialling a new way to help reunite lost pups with their mums in Cairns.
A mother-pup reunion net has been installed at John Egan Park in Cairns North. It’s a specially designed net to give abandoned pups a safe spot to be temporarily placed in the hope that mothers will find and retrieve their young as they call out to them from the net.
Spectacled flying-foxes give birth to just one pup each year, making every new arrival important for the recovery of the species.
Wet Tropics Wildlife Rescue coordinator Kristy Jensen said the species congregated in maternity roosts through spring and summer.
“The birthing and nursery season typically runs from September through to March and numbers at maternity roosts can increase significantly during this time,” she said. “There are more than 70 roost sites across the Cairns area. While having a maternity roost nearby can be challenging for residents, this is seasonal behaviour. By Easter, most roosts will have dispersed to other locations.”
FNQ Wildlife Rescue wildlife carer Cheryl Hudson said almost 400 orphaned pups were rescued in Cairns last year.
