Back in September, we were approached by the Department of Environment and Heritage to help with investigating a skin disease in bats at the caves in Naracoorte. The Southern Bentwing Bat is listed as critically endangered so an apparently emerging disease in this population is concerning for the future of the species.

In recent years there has also been significant mortality in bat pups when are born in December; so far there reason for this is not clear.

After an initial set of necropsies to work out what we might be dealing with, we went down to Naracoorte in late October to trap a large number of bats to estimate the number of animals affected, and collect skin biopsies for further testing. We have identified a number of diseases, but it looks as though the skin disease is primarily due to a parasite.

There are lots of questions still to be answered, and we are preparing for a thorough investigation of pup mortality should this occur again during the coming weeks.

This project has been a great collaborative effort – in very quick time we were able to bring in experts from PIRSA, the South Australian Museum, Gribbles Veterinary Pathology, the Australian Animal Health Laboratory, and the vet school at the University of Melbourne, to help with various aspects of this investigation.