The Bat Health Focus Group: One Health in Action for Australia’s Bats
Host: International Wildlife Rehabilitation Council
Date: Wednesday June 24, 2026
For more than 20 years the Bat Health Focus Group (BHFG) has worked together to improve bat health in Australia. Coordinated by Wildlife Health Australia, the BHFG is a collaborative One Health initiative involving a wide range of invested professionals, including wildlife rehabilitators. The group formed in 2004 with a focus on Australian bat lyssavirus. A lot has changed for Australia’s bats since then and the BHFG has evolved to consider all bat health issues in the broader context of biosecurity, public health, domestic animal health and environmental impacts.
This talk will provide background to the group’s formation, outline how the group achieves it’s One Health approach including the importance of wildlife rehabilitators, key achievements, resources, and a summary of Australian bat lyssavirus testing data collected by the group. The BHFG shows how an inclusive One Health approach can make a real difference for wildlife through policy development, reporting, research, incident response and overall collaboration across multiple sectors.
