Recently, people in North America have experienced an extreme “polar vortex,” but for people in Australia it is the very opposite. Australia was recently hit by an extreme heat wave with temperatures exceeding 110 degrees Fahrenheit, a temperature that is just too high for bats to withstand. Any temperature over 109 degrees and bats fall to the ground dead. The Royal Society of Prevention of Cruelty to Animals confirmed that an estimated 100,000 bat bodies were discovered littering the grounds in Queensland, Australia. The government warned people not to touch or attempt to clean up the carcasses, and to wait for professionals to be sent to clean them up. Some people were bitten or scratched by live bats who were though to be dead. These individuals had to take medicine for Lyssavirus, a group of viruses that include the well-known rabies virus.

According to many people living in Australia, the government was taking much too long to clean up the mess. Complaints about a lack of action and the smell of the decaying bodies were common. The heat wave did a great deal of damage to the bat colonies in Australia, leading to problems with many ecosystems. The government now has the ability to relocate the colonies of bats. It seems that the people in Australia think that this is an idea that should be followed through with.