TOLGA BAT HOSPITAL:For more than 20 years, volunteers led by Jenny Maclean have been helping flying-foxes afflicted by tick paralysis on the Atherton Tablelands

摘要

ITS STEAMY IN the summer heat of Queensland's Wet Tropics. In this stifling humidity, 23-year-old Marsten Jones, an environmental science student from Nashville, USA, moves around a white-tiled bathroom full of sleeping flying-foxes. A squeaked protest follows his progress as he tugs cloths from cages. Shafts of early morning light rouse the resident orphans of the Tolga Bat Hospital, near Atherton, Queensland. The trick, says Marsten, is to make sure one unhappy baby doesn't have a domino effect onthe other pups."Alfie's always been weak," he says, pointing at the tiny specimen clinging to his T-shirt. The bat blinks big chocolate-coloured eyes at us. "He caught pneumonia early on, so we give him a bit of extra attention."