And while night-time feeds drive most mums batty, Wildlife Victoria volunteers refill formula bottles and rotate dummies around the clock. The babies are often rescued after their mums have been electrocuted on powerlines, fatally entangled in dark-coloured fruit tree netting or ripped apart on barbed wire. The orphans are swaddled in blankets to help them feel secure and put in a bat nursery where they thrive in the company of their little flying fox cousins.
"Coming from colonies we have found they do much better in company than on their own," WV development manager Amy Amato said.
The flying foxes remain in care until ready for a "soft release" into a special enclosure at the colony's home at Yarra Bend.
