Battered streets armed to fight back on flying foxes
THE embattled residents of Tepequar Drive in Maroochydore are celebrating after getting ammunition in their war against a flying fox colony.
For three years, the once peaceful, upmarket street has been under siege by a flying fox colony which made itself at home in a neighbouring forest.
As the flying fox has been a protected species in Queensland since 1994, the residents could do nothing to protect themselves from the noise, the smell and the potential health risks.
While most acknowledge that the flying fox problem is of man's making, constant government to-and-fro-ing about how to deal with it left many feeling as though the flying foxes had more rights than people.
It wasn't the only community going batty.
Resdients in Cassia Avenue at Coolum also have a major a problem and an area in Palmwoods is of concern.
The Sunshine Coast Council unanimously approved its draft Flying Fox Management Plan last week, but it needed the green light from the State Government to enact it.
It got this yesterday, when the government announced it would give councils the power to move flying fox roosts causing problems in urban areas as they see fit.
The council declined to comment. But for Tepequar Dr residents like Maree Oliver and Robyn Loon, as well as residents living in other neighbourhoods close to flying fox colonies, the news is a godsend.
"I'm delighted as at last I will be able to open my front door and won't have to scrubb off the house and path," one resident said.
"I have lived here for 11 years and they weren't here in the past.
"The colony has grown and grown.
"Those on the other side of the road can't sell their house, no one can rent there."
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