flying foxes falling

Artist: Sabine Carter

Artist statement:
"A friend of mine worked for a local council where a heatwave killed thousands of flying foxes. She had to assess the site and said that she was traumatised when she saw all the dead bodies on the ground. I couldn't get the picture out of my head for days. What will happen when we have more and more heatwaves...?"

Context:
In 2019 Cairns in Far North Queensland had a few days of severe heat. While humans can turn on their aircon, animals like flying foxes die of heat stroke. The heatwave is estimated to have killed more than 23,000 spectacled flying foxes, equating to almost one third of the species in Australia. Another event happened in south-east Queensland back in 2014 where about 46,000 animals (predominantly black flying foxes) died. Read full article here.

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