A sad scene is being shared today and it is the tragic story of climate change.
Images of the dead carcasses of over 5000 flying foxes are being cleared up in Northern NSW. Wildlife careers are working to save the hundreds of orphaned baby bats. This comes after temperatures shot up to 44 degrees over the weekend, the bats "simply dropped out of trees and were dead before they hit the ground. "
“Some areas along the riverbank are inaccessible and the stench from the rotting carcasses will be quite unbearable for some time yet,” said council manager John Walker.
While flying foxes are often portrayed as noisy pests, they are protected native species and declines in their populations have significant environmental ramifications as they spread seeds and pollinate native trees.
Flying foxes are being directly affected by climate change with at least 45,500 flying foxes dead in a single day during the Australian January heatwave in 2014, now it looks like it's already beginning again.
The extreme heat waves we are subject to in Australia have been scientifically proven to be the direct result of man-made climate change.
"The Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society released a report this week confirming human-caused climate change increased the severity of 2013 heat waves in Asia, Europe and Australia.
The New York times has called these findings, “The most definitive statement climate scientists have made tying a specific weather event to global warming.”
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How bad will it get before our Government will take action? There's no more time for waiting.
It's imperative we take action on dangerous climate change in our everyday lives and choices, to save vulnerable creatures such as these!
Join us and we'll show you how.