fruit bats, rabies and dogs

We found a new place to walk, yesterday. If we didn't have Penny to make us go exploring, we wouldn't find all the interesting things around us, I reckon.

As we walked along the Yarra River, we heard a chittering noise, and thought at first it was a flock of black cockatoos swirling through the air nearby. Of course, we headed in that direction to investigate. I love cockatoos.

But it was fruit bats. Hundreds of them, swooping from tree to tree. I thought bats slept in the daytime, but these ones seemed to be quite disturbed. Maybe it was our approach, but I don't think so, because at first we were a long way away, and it was their movement that attracted our attention.

Human Number Two kept Penny away while I went closer to snap these pictures with my phone, because we'd heard the rumours about bats spreading rabies.

But on this government site I read:

 It is assumed that any bat in Australia could potentially carry ABLV. The behaviour or appearance of a bat is not an accurate guide as to whether it is carrying the virus. The rabies and ABLV viruses are unlikely to survive outside the bat or animal for more than a few hours, especially in dry environments that are exposed to sunlight. Contact or exposures to bat faeces, urine or blood do not pose a risk of exposure to ABLV, nor do living, playing or walking near bat roosting areas as long as bats are not handled.

Well, we certainly wouldn't be handling them, because they were way up high.