Bram Stoker's NIGHTMARE... by blinkings
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Description
I wanted to show you guys this. I actually took this out of my car's window whilst I was stopped at the traffic lights! It's a dead bat. It wasn't killed by electricity or a predator. And it didn't die of old age. It's killer was Lyssavirus, a close relative of the common rabies virus that is not found in Australia. It's killing our bats, and us.
In November 1996 a Queensland woman who had recently become a bat handler, became ill.
She initially suffered numbness and weakness in her arm which progressed to coma and death. In December 1998 a woman from Mackay in North Queensland was also diagnosed with the disease and later died.
She had been bitten by a bat more than two years earlier, before the infection was first identified in humans and before information about vaccination and bat handling precautions were circulated.
The sad scene in this photo is becoming all too common.
Comments (17)
jayfar
This is both awe inspiring and frightening at the same time Andrew.
beachzz
yikes, scary stuff!!
alanwilliams
this sounds horrific Andrew, you just never know whats around the corner
durleybeachbum
Appalling...and so interesting that it's grip persisted in death.
whaleman
That is very alarming!
danapommet
Great info to read but on the scary side too. Astonishing capture! It looks like the bat hooked on to the wire, for a quick nap, and then died. You are the master of finding the strangest things. :>) Dana
Bossie_Boots
Blimey scary stuff ... amazing capture though !!
bullsnook
dude that is a really sucky deal, I' so sorry to hear that this is going on, and that it is effecting people with more than just the loss of your bats
Faemike55
Strange and scary capture, Andrew
kgb224
Sorry to hear this my friend. Superb capture. God Bless.
jocko500
wow hope it can be stopped
coyoteviper
how terrible, for both the humans and the bats. I happen to like bats. interesting creatures.
billcody
Looks like a joke at the first moment, but it is horrific. Hope they can stop this sort of virus. We have an infection with EHEC- bacillus in the moment, what will be the next?
rickp98908
It's terriable to see wildlife die like that.
Chipka
What a shot and a story to go with it. The fact that diseases exist at all is already pretty grim, especially those that seem to jump species! As for this photo, it's a grim, but also touching "Current Event" shot and hopefully that virus can be put under control; the only problem with viral diseases is that if they're deadly enough, there's really no surefire way to kill them without also killing the host! What a shot. It's incredibly moving and quite telling; it also makes me think. (off to google lyssavirus now...)
cfulton
It is a scary scene, given the info you have shared. Clive
debbielove
Jeez mate!!!!!!! Shocking, for both bat and people.. Thanks for showing us.. Rob