A small central Queensland town is still reeling from the impact of a flying fox invasion that turned it into a virtual grey nomad ‘no-go zone’.
Residents of Duaringa, south-west of Rockhampton, say many of the 100,000 bats that came to town have now moved on … but that their legacy will last for some time. Julie Hobill from Duaringa Post Office told the ABC that about a-third of the bats are still in town and tourists are still staying away.
“Mackenzie Park, which is a very, very popular stay-over place for our grey nomads, they simply aren’t coming any more,” she said. “The word is filtering through … before they even leave Victoria, which the majority of them come from, and they’re actually bypassing us.”
The Central Highlands Regional Council had been given permission to use light, noise or other measures to move on the large colony of red and black flying foxes.
The ABC reports that Kabra, west of Rockhampton, also had a large number of flying foxes in town for several months but they have now left.
“There was a number of yards, private residences that were impacted as well as the council park along the highway there,” said Central Highlands Mayor, Peter Maguire. “I’m not sure where they’ve gone – I guess they’ve gone somewhere where there’s more food and whatever they do.”
