Volunteers Needed: Bat Rescue in Australia

  Australia

• Queensland: 
Queensland

Durations of Program: 2-4 weeks, 5-8 weeks and 9-12 weeks
Typical Duration of Program: 2-4 weeks
Dates: See website for dates

Description: Help save one of the world's largest flying mammals when you volunteer with our Bat Rescue Project in the scenic Atherton Tablelands of Queensland, Australia. As a volunteer with our Bat Rescue Program, you'll have the rare opportunity to help preserve Australia's struggling bat population. Though bats are often an unjustly maligned group of animals, those who work with them soon discover that they are inquisitive, charismatic and intelligent animals. Working at a bat hospital and rescue center on the edge of a beautiful rain forest, volunteers help rescue, rehabilitate and release several species of bats, including the Spectacled Flying Fox.

Under the guidance of your project coordinator, volunteers on this project help rescue the tick-paralyzed bats and care for injured and orphaned bats. Work includes searching the bat colonies daily for paralysed and orphaned bats, caring for those orphans, feeding baby bats, treating injured bats, preparing food and conducting research. However you spend your time at the hospital, your hard work in Queensland will sustain an amazing and vital bat species as well as the fragile ecosystem that depends on their survival. Those who volunteer outside paralysis tick season (October to February) will help look after the permanent care bats and ones that are harmed by barbed wire and other environmental hazards.

Highlights:
As a volunteer you will:
* Clean and prepare bat food
* Rescue bats who have become entangled in barbed wire or netting
* Assist with ongoing research projects
* Help restore vegetation damaged by livestock at the bat colony and hospital
* Care for orphaned flying foxes
* Help run the visitor's center

Qualifications:
* Must be at least 18 years old
* Must get a rabies vaccination before handling bats

Cost in US$: See website

Experience Required: no

Typical Volunteer: Volunteer Adventures makes it easy to live your dream of volunteering. Anyone can volunteer, as long as you have the desire to help others and an open mind.

Age Range: 18 and older

This Program is open to World Wide Participants.

Volunteer Adventures's Mission Statement: The mission of Volunteer Adventures is to create and promote volunteer opportunities that improve the lives of others and the environment in which we live. We seek to achieve this goal by connecting worthy local projects with volunteers around the world. Many local organizations are doing great work in their communities, but don't have the resources required to recruit international volunteers. Volunteer Adventures serves as the link between these organizations and the volunteers needed to make these projects a success. All volunteer programs depend on the skilled coordination of a variety of elements: enthusiastic volunteers, meaningful work, organized projects, and supportive staff. It is our goal at Volunteer Adventures to orchestrate this process for you. We use our global experience and resources to provide volunteer experiences that bring pride and satisfaction to everyone involved.