"Hi there, I have found a baby bat on the road. I am concerned it was blown onto the ground"

Wildlife carers and rescuers like me have received messages like this daily for weeks now, and there doesn't seem to be an end in sight. We are in the midst of a mass orphaning event here in Victoria, with just over 250 pups in our care, and more coming each day.

We’re being inundated with pups and injured adults, and the peak Summer season has only just started. We are overwhelmed, and desperately need community support right now.

Like my fellow wildlife carers, I'm worried we are at breaking point. Some have said to us 'just say no more' ... but there is no way we can turn our backs and leave these vulnerable animals to die of predation or starvation.

We are stretched, but we will not let them suffer.

If you can help, we would be so grateful — even a couple of dollars from anyone who loves wildlife, will add up make the world of difference right now.

This orphaning event is a catastrophe for this iconic threatened species. So many pups have been orphaned, many of them are starving and dehydrated having waited for their mums who haven’t returned. For some, our help has come too late, which is keeping us up at night wondering how many more are out there alone.

We don’t know what is happening to these adults who are usually incredibly protective and dedicated parents to their one pup born each year. Are they suffering in illegal fruit tree nets? Have they been electrocuted ? Are they snared on barbed wire fences?

All we know is that we have so many pups, every one of them scared and hungry and all needing our help.

We can't give them back the comfort and protection of their mothers, but we can do our best to raise them and return them to their home in the wild where they belong.

We are launching this fundraiser to raise money to support these pups through to the soft release process, when they will need hundreds of kilograms of fruit each week, for around 4 months, until they go home.

Fruit is expensive, and we need to buy it by it in huge quantities. We also need to purchase special protein supplement which costs thousands of dollars through the hand rearing process.

We have dedicated our lives over the coming months to save theirs.

If our community is able to support us through a donation, it will give them, and us, the support we need to make it happen.