100,000 Bats Are Killed by Australian Heatwave
An estimated 100,000 bats have died as a result of a record heatwave in Queensland, Australia, reports ABC News.
About 25 bat colonies were affected across the state, the second largest and third most populous in Australia.
While North America has experienced record cold, Australia is in the middle of its summer.
"The heatwave was basically a catastrophe for all the bat colonies in south-east Queensland," said Michael Beatty, a spokesman for the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
"That's obviously going to have a pretty disturbing impact on those colonies and those colonies are vital to our ecosystem."
Queensland residents are complaining of the strong smell from the dead bats, and some residents have received anti-viral treatment after being scratched or bitten by live bats while trying to clean up the ones that have died.(Jan 9, 2014 02:30 PM ET // by Paul Heltzel)
