There's a bat hospital in Australia - and the photos will melt your heart
The Tolga Bat Hospital houses close to 300 bat orphans. Volunteers come to the hospital to help nurse them to health after traumatic experiences.
Spectacled flying foxes are often at the hospital. The smaller ones are brought out to the veranda in the morning to ensure that they get enough sun. There, they can just hang around and flap their wings while warming up.
Baby bats are kept cozy in the hospital with blankets and bottles. This bat, named Victor, looks pretty pleased with his temporary home.
There is no shortage of food at the hospital. While hanging out upside down, bats can feast on some freshly cut apples.
The bats are also given lichee as snacks. This is a sweetly scented white fruit with a rough pink skin.
This tube-nosed bat was born at the hospital after it's mother was rescued from a barbed wire fence. When mothers give birth at the hospital, both are kept until the baby starts to fly. They are then released back into the wild together.
Smaller bats get heating pads to keep them warm and comfortable during their stay at the hospital.
This is a young flying fox that came to the hospital from the Maldives after being attacked by cows. When it came to the hospital, it weighed less than 100 grams.
Flying foxes are often some of the hospital's main patients. The hospital is trying to help the orphans of the thousands of flying foxes being killed by the government on Mauritius, an island about 4,000 miles away from Australia in the Indian Ocean.
The hospital rescues a lot of little red flying foxes that have sustained injuries from barbed wires. This young flying fox's name is Grove.
The hospital has recycled fur coats so that the baby bats can snuggle up in them. The coats were donated by Snuggle Coats, a company that dissembles fur goods and sends them to animal groups at no charge for rehabilitation purposes.
A lot of bats that come to hospital are suffering from tick paralysis. This mom and baby pair got to snuggle before the mom was euthanized as a result of her sickness. The baby remained in the care of the hospital, where it grew perfectly well in the nursery.
The hospital has some bats that will never recover enough to be released back into the wild. This leaf-nosed bat, Diadem, has lost too much finger bone and membrane to survive on her own. She is now used as an educational bat for when tourists visit. Tickets are less than $20 to see these beautiful animals up close and help the cause.
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