It’s not the first time a flying fox invasion has been blamed for frightening away grey nomads and other tourists from a town, but the plague currently affecting Batemans Bay is possibly the worst example ever.
A staggering 120,000 bats have descended on the beauty spot on the NSW south coast, forcing the state government to describe the situation as a ‘state of emergency’ and to commit $2.5 million to solving the ‘problem’.
Reports say the endless screeching of the bats, together with the smell and droppings of faeces, had brought people to breaking point. Many of the town’s residents have said that they feel like prisoners in their own homes and are unable to open their windows.
Environment Minister Mark Speakman said it was essential the animals were relocated.
“We’ve had over 100,000 flying foxes settle in Batemans Bay,” he said. “We think that represents about a quarter to a fifth of the entire national population, so it has been quite an extraordinary circumstance.”
The Federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt has said he will seek an exemption to Federal laws to allow the dispersal of the protected species to go ahead.
A range of options to achieve that are on the table.
“The current method that seems to be the one that’s working the most,” said Eurobodalla Mayor, Lindsay Brown. “Extremely loud industrial noise combined with smoke and combined with bright lights in an effort to make the area where the flying foxes roost to be as uncomfortable as possible.”
The Eurobodalla Council has published a draft management plan, which proposes spraying trees with deterrents, and using giant inflatable tube men to scare the animals away.
The migratory bats regularly colonise towns when native trees are flowering, and Batemans Bay is certainly not the only community affected. Flying fox camps at Cessnock in the Hunter Valley are currently driving residents and visitors to distraction.
And last year, the caretaker at Muswellbrook’s Riverside caravan park, also in the Hunter Valley, said the thousands of bats in the park made an ‘unbearable’ noise and created an horrific stench.
There have also previously been issues at many other grey nomads hotspots including the likes of Mataranka, Evans Head and Cairns.
Grey-headed flying foxes are listed by the Commonwealth and NSW Governments as a “vulnerable to extinction species”, with the CSIRO estimating there are about 680,000 in Australia.
The Aussie Government needs to find a sanctuary that the foxes are attracted to in order to relocate. Harming these extraordinary animals” Is Not An Option”. Thank all who cares for their continued existence.
The flying foxes have claimed the city of Cairns. They reside right in the heart of town. One area has been cordoned off around a tree to stop people having poop drop on them as they walk past. If you are holidaying in an inner city resort, you have to keep the windows closed because of the noise. The population of flying foxes around the whole of the city would also easily top 100,000.
We stayed at Tamworth for the night in our caravan. My husband was cooking dinner outside and called me out, I could not believe what I saw the sky was black with bats they circled the sky then they left.The lady at the caravan told us they had been there and had now moved into town. Tamworth is renowned for there bat population. Happy caravanarks