Starving flying-foxes swamp carers as Australia delays response
Grey-headed flying-foxes are starving in NSW and eastern Victoria. A warm winter disrupted their food supply.
Wildlife carers are overwhelmed by starving flying-foxes in NSW and eastern Victoria, mostly grey-headed species. The likely cause is a warm winter disrupting native tree flowering and nectar supply.
Flying-fox starvation is only the latest in a recurring pattern. Tens of thousands died in the 2019-20 Black Summer.
Thousands more died in 2025-26. Climate change keeps worsening their plight.
Australia is poorly positioned to respond. In 2016, researchers and industry called for a national approach.
A 2017 parliamentary inquiry recommended a national consultative body and dedicated funding. Neither has been implemented.
The national monitoring program was defunded in 2022.
- Tens of thousands
- Deaths in 2019-20
- Thousands
- Deaths in 2025-26
- 2022
- Monitoring program defunded
- NSW and eastern Victoria
- Areas affected
Why it mattersFlying-foxes pollinate native plants and disperse seeds across vast distances. Without them, ecosystems weaken and crops suffer. Wildlife carers need better support, but the real problem is Australia's lack of a national strategy.
AustraliaAustralia's agriculture and native ecosystems depend on flying-fox pollination. Continued population decline without national response threatens farm productivity and environmental health.
✓ Claims checked against the source and corrected before publish. checked 5 h ago
