Throttle is an adult male Grey-Headed Flying-Fox who got his head stuck between 2 adjacent sheets of glass balcony balustrading.
During the last few years, these rescues have become more common with the increasing use of glass for balcony balustrades and pool fences.
I naively assumed this would be a simple rescue where I just wrapped the batty and lifted him up between the panes to the top where there would be an exit point; I was wrong. The balcony glass was capped with a metal edging so there was nowhere to lift him out.
I apparently had to get him out however he got in, just in reverse. He was very ungracious about the whole removal procedure (apparently it was all my fault he was stuck there); he bit on my towel and puffed up his neck and face, making the whole extraction a degree more complex. He kept trying to get his wrist into the gap to add to his bulk, and once I finally got the cloth out of his mouth his teeth were then left free to turn my fingers into confetti if he so chose. I had to stretch his neck out a bit to reduce his bulk and rotate his head so I could un-wedge it and slide it out. I won't say it was a particularly comfortable procedure for him but the options were for him to stay for a lot longer; I had to pick up Mum from church so I'd have had to come back in an hour or more.
Or I could have called the Fireys to remove one of the panels...
But the longer he was left there, the more he would struggle and the more damage he was doing to himself with all the exertion.
So I rotated his head and slid it back through, but it was a very rough slide and squished his face and ears on the way out; nonetheless it was successful.
I won't say I think he has a good chance of survival, because I don't. Such struggles can induce a kind of myopathy which causes renal failure.
All we can do is give him supportive care; whatever damage he has done has already happened, we just haven't seen the effect on him yet and it will take its course over the next 24 hours giving us a clearer picture; my job is to make sure he's as hydrated as he possibly can be to mitigate the effects of any toxins building up in his blood and causing kidney damage. The rest is up to his body, for it to decide if he will live or die.
KOKO (keep on keeping on) Throttle...
Throttle, so named because I have already named a batty Headlock, in the same situation; Throttle was next best name I could think of to describe his situation.
Thanks to the lovely MOPs who called and cared, and for the thumbnail pic which has a beautiful accidental reflection.
Update: Throttle died 2 days post rescue; RIP big fella.
His death was from exertional myopathy; stress struggling causes muscle damage, the by-products of which (myoglobin) cause kidney damage and cardiac damage. It's generally fatal within 24 hours, or a few weeks later when they get secondary renal failure.
Tolga Bat Hospital takes donations for our batties. Tolga is an awesome place in Far North Queensland, which has charity status. By sending donations to them, they get a percentage (and deserve every cent) and they can allocate money to me for batty expenses without it becoming part of my income stream (which makes tax time difficult).
tolgabathospit...
Mention Megabattie or Meg in the PayPal message box and the money will find its way to me.
If no message box appears, please email Jenny to tell her that the money is for me.
IMPORTANT: If you pay through the PayPal Giving Fund, can you please email Jenny with the AMOUNT DONATED and the name under which you have donated, OR just forward along the PP receipt.
The Giving Fund doesn’t charge any fees (so the bats get more money) but PP doesn’t itemise out the amount, they just send a total every month, and we don’t know if the money is for Tolga or for Megabattie.
Here’s Jenny’s email.
jenny@tolgabathospital.org
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