Flying foxes in NSW and Victoria face mass starvation amid food shortages

‘They’re crawling around on the ground eating unripe dropped fruit, and quite literally dropping out of trees due to starvation.’ Photograph: supplied by Fly By Night Bat Clinic

Flying foxes are starving en masse across New South Wales and parts of Victoria, with wildlife rescuers responding to a surge in reports of “exhausted and emaciated” adults and skeletal pups.

Most reports involved grey-headed flying foxes, listed as vulnerable under federal environment laws and which usually feed on the blossoms and nectar of native trees.