Why dead bats are falling from the sky in Queensland

IT'S like we're in one of Alfred Hitchcock's terrifying thought bubbles. You know, he's that guy who did The Birds. Bats are falling to the ground and dying all around us.

IT'S like we're living in one of Alfred Hitchcock's terrifying thought bubbles.

Bats are falling to the ground and dying all around us. The trees are littered with the creatures, some of whom are still clinging to branches long after they stopped clinging to life.

It's gruesome, scary and more than a little bewildering. But there's a perfectly legitimate scientific reason for this horror.

These poor bats were photographed at Pan Pacific Gardens in Redbank.

Conservation workers and vets, who have spent much of the past two days removing bodies, humanely euthanising survivors and finding homes for babies, reckon tens of thousands of bats have died because of the heatwave in Queensland.

"These (hot weather) events are really impacting on them," Bat Conservation and Rescue Queensland president Louise Saunders told the Courier Mail.

"It's a horrible, cruel way to die. We're just trying to deal with the animal welfare side of things."

Tens of thousands have died.

It's all due to the extreme heat. Ms Saunders said many bat colonies have moved inward in an effort to escape the high temperatures, but those closer to the coast have fared better.

"Anything over 43 degrees and they just fall. We're just picking up those that are just not coping and are humanely euthanising what we can."

And another.

Local councils have warned parents to keep their children away from the corpses of bats and flying foxes.

"Young children could be attracted to the bats on the ground but there could be serious health risks if they pick them up," Ipswich councillor Paul Tully told the Mail.

"Residents should report any other incidents to the council."

The disease Australian bat lyssavirus, which causes paralysis or even death, can be transmitted to humans. Children who approach the bodies could also risk contracting the Hendra virus.

Some bats didn't even fall to the ground.

To understand the scale of these deaths, just watch the video above. It was shot by Dayboro resident Murray Paas, who found more than a thousand dead bats on his 1.5-hectare property.

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