Injured and starving, their mothers dead, these infants really need your help right now. |
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Dear friends,
Frodo, the baby flying fox, weighed less than a bar of chocolate when he was found orphaned on the island of Mahé in Seychelles. At just a few days old and 72 grams (2.5 ounces), he was helpless without his mother, but they had become separated. |
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Tragically, Frodo and his mother were never reunited. It is likely she was caught by hunters, disoriented by streetlights, or electrocuted by a powerline – just a few of the threats facing flying foxes across the Seychelles. |
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Hunting and human activity are destroying flying fox populations across the island of Mahé in the Seychelles. Without our help today, they have little chance of surviving.
Please help us rescue and rehabilitate infant flying foxes! |
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| Credit: ASI - Byron Seale |
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Earlier this year, we told you about one of the terrible threats facing flying fox communities on Mahé: being hunted and caught for an island delicacy: bat curry. It is cruel and barbaric, and it leaves countless babies orphaned as their mothers are captured in crude nets and then stabbed to death. |
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| Credit: ASI - Byron Seale |
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But there are many other threats facing the species. A rapidly growing human population means severe encroachment on flying foxes’ habitats. Frequently, they fly into power lines and are electrocuted, get sick or die from poisons used on fruit crops, or lose their food sources to a growing human population. A terrible drug problem on the islands further diminishes their food supply as people steal fruit to sell for drug money.
When mother flying foxes are killed by these threats, their babies are left helpless and unable to feed themselves. They would starve to death were it not for our partner, Protect Paradise Seychelles (PPS). |
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| Credit: ASI - Byron Seale |
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Frodo is one of the many orphaned, injured or disorientated flying foxes rescued by PPS, who do their utmost to bring them back from the brink. Some are rescued after mistaking streetlights for the moon and flying into populated areas instead of out over the sea. They become confused and exhausted. Others are rescued from even more heinous situations, like Bella, who came in severely injured and paralyzed, possibly with a spinal injury. |
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PPS suspected she was trying to escape a bat trap or was bludgeoned by a human. However, they were not able to make an accurate diagnosis of her as they do not have an X-ray machine. |
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It is clear that our team urgently needs an X-ray machine, and if we can raise $15,000 (around £11550), that is exactly what we will purchase for them. Will you help us right now? |
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| Credit: Left Image Protect Paradise & right image: ASI Byron Seale |
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PPS works diligently and tirelessly to save every flying fox who comes through their doors. Babies are fed using a pacifier specially designed to mimic their mothers’ nipples, which helps make them feel secure. They also use special bat wraps called mumma rolls to imitate the feeling of holding onto their mothers’ bellies and would feel as if their mothers’ wings are wrapped around them. This expert care gives them the best chance of surviving, thriving, and ultimately being released into safe areas free of human activity and traps. |
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| Credit: ASI - Byron Seale |
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Flying foxes are a keystone species in the ecosystem, pollinating and disseminating diverse plant species. Seychelles’ rich and varied flora depend on species like flying foxes for survival, yet the animals – whose once-safe and verdant home is steadily being wiped out – are slaughtered by ignorant people. |
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Saving animals and the planet,
Campaign Director
Animal Survival International |
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P.S. Seychelles’ fragile flying foxes are in crisis. Human activity, hunting and heavy rainfall – exacerbated by climate change – are leaving more and more infants orphaned and injured. Frodo and other orphaned baby flying foxes desperately need your help to survive – they stand no chance without the compassion of wildlife heroes like you, so please, donate right away. |
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