10 August, 2011 12:22PM AEST
http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2011/08/09/3289223.htm
The public discussion on bats in urban areas has come to a crescendo following this year's Hendra virus outbreak.
The tide of sentiment is swelling towards relocating urban bat colonies and some fed-up residents have attempted to move on flying foxes illegally.Why is it so difficult to find the balance between people's needs and bat conservation?General manager of conservation strategy and planning at the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service (QPWS), Clive Cook says bat colonies are protected for important reasons."The relative view that we're putting flying foxes before humans is totally untrue," says Mr Cook."The law is made to try and protect the balance... to ensure that we don't have a human-induced extinction process."All flying foxes and their roosts are protected by law and two species, the grey-headed and spectacled flying foxes, are nationally listed as vulnerable species.However, bats can be moved when a Damage Mitigation Permit has been granted by the Department of Enviroment and Resource Management.There are four active permits in Queensland, they are at Mackay, Bundall, Mount Ommaney and Mount Isa.Permits are currently being considered for colonies in Gayndah, Barcaldine and the Lockyer Valley, but DERM has rejected applications for permits in Charters Towers and Nambour.However, Griffith University researcher Billie Roberts, who has been assessing bat dispersal programs along the east coast of Australia, says they rarely have much success."If the animals move at all, they typically only move a very short distance... less than 500 metres from the original location," says Ms Roberts."And you end up with more people being affected and the management of these new sites can be difficult."Even if you were successful in moving the animals because they are so mobile and because they move between campsites frequently any result would only be temporary."Ms Roberts says dispersing flying foxes is also more difficult and costly than communities anticipate."For example, in Maclean in northern New South Wales, they've had ten years of dispersal attempts over a million dollars and they're continuing to relocate them on a regular basis."Now we have a greater number of residents affected... we have new populations, one at Iluka and one at Maclean (300 metres from the original site), that need to be managed.Taking matters into their own hands
Some residents have been attempting to move bats on using any technique that works."We've tried everything," says Robyn Burgess, whose Gold Coast home borders a large flying fox colony."It's the smell and the noise as far as we're concerned."Ms Burgess and her neighbours have received official warnings from DERM after illegally using air horns in a bid to move the bats away."They are the most beautiful animals, we realise they're meant to be there but there's way too many of them," says Ms Burgess.Clive Cook from DERM has lived near a bat colony and says he understands what residents going through."We totally empathise with the situation... they are noisy, they're smelly."But we are concerned about people taking unilateral action."By shifting them out of their backyard, they're just shifting them into somebody else's backyard."There have also been attacks on bats, which the RSPCA is investigating.The President of Bat Conservation and Rescue Queensland, Louise Saunders, says her organisation is seeing evidence of vigilante action."I've had members ringing up and crying because they just can't understand why people are being so awful to the animals that we consider to be beautiful," says Ms Saunders."I think it's because people don't understand the importance or how magnificent these animals really are."Stress and disease
Mr Cook says the stress caused when people try and deter the animals could lead to those residents becoming liable for the spread of bat-borne disease."The best advice that we've got at the moment is that stress in flying foxes lowers their resistance and potentially increases the risk of Hendra being exuded from the animals," he says."If it could be demonstrated that an individual or a group that has dispersed flying foxes that then subsequently have infected something else... there is a potential liability issue."This is the reason why the permits are so important."In us (DERM) considering an application, we potentially incur a form of liability."There hasn't been any specific research to link habitat disturbance with increases the Hendra virus but Billie Roberts says work in the Northern Territory has shown a link with another kind of stress."It found that in times of nutritional stress that the prevalence of disease in flying foxes increases," says Ms Roberts."(Dispersal) is a significant stress on the species and we need to be taking that conservative approach."Bats in the 'burbs
Why are bats camping in suburban areas anyway?The Department of Environment and Resource Management says as the population grows and people need more places to live, development is encroaching on bat habitats."One of the ironies here is that humans have come into the equation; humans have spread out and urbanised the landscape," says Clive Cook."We should have expected that wildlife would be affected by humans' modifications of the landscape."Researcher Billie Roberts says backyard gardening has incidentally created attractive habitats for bats in urban areas."In many areas, we have actually planted food trees that are attractive to flying foxes... we've planted a number of nectar-excreting plants such as grevillias and eucalypts."Many of these trees are now mature and we're not only attracting birds, we're attracting flying foxes. We're creating a regular and reliable food source for these animals."Louise Saunders from Bat Rescue and Conservation Queensland says there's also a seasonal factor."The (bat) population is all up here in Queensland, enjoying this amazing flowering of eucalypts and melaleucas."It doesn't mean that they're out of control and the populations are going crazy, it only means that they're here in relation to the flowering."Food trees have already been removed in one dispersal program (under a Damage Mitigation Permit), near the Gold Coast Turf Club, resulting in the flying fox colony moving away.Although Mr Cook cautions such a strategy will only work when they can be certain there is a more appropriate new home and the bats will definately move there, rather than somewhere just as troublesome.
DERM's long-term bat management plan includes preparing more appropriate habitat areas away from homes."Planting areas of suitable habitat to encourage flying foxes to be there, rather than where you don't want them," says Mr Cook.In the short-term, researcher Billie Roberts says removing nectar-producing trees would increase food pressures on flying foxes."So that might be quite counter-productive, we might actually increase disease spill-overs rather than decrease them."The relative riskHowever, Ms Roberts says the risks of living next to flying foxes have been amplified."There seems to be much hysteria within the general community and much of the comments don't seem to be using science," says Ms Roberts.Current evidence from Biosecurity Queensland shows people cannot get Hendra directly from bats or their fluids and lyssavirus can only be contracted through a bat bite or scratch that is left untreated.Bat carers are in regular contact with flying foxes yet Queensland Health testing showed none of them had contracted the disease."We flying fox carers are the evidence that you cannot get Hendra virus from flying foxes," says Louise Saunders from Bat Conservation and Rescue Queensland.Flying foxes avoid contact with humans, further reducing the risk.Why bats matter
Flying foxes are Australia's long range pollinators and seed dispersers.Without them, eucalypts couldn't hybridise to keep up with climate change, rainforests would decline and commercial hardwoods would become weaker and more vulnerable to termites and wood grubs."If you were to follow the hypothesis that is 'get rid of them all', that would be an ecological catastrophe for Australia," says Mr Cook.Billie Roberts adds they are also very important for rainforests."If we like forests and we like rainforests, we need to maintain flying fox populations at reasonable numbers," she says.Keeping bats out legally
There are several things residents can do to discourage bats from their backyards.Cocos palms produce a bunch of seeds with a fruity coating that attracts bats but it isn't their natural food and leads to very sticky bat poo.The palms have been declared a weed by Brisbane City Council and a range of other local governments."Remove them if you can or cut the seeds off after the flowers have been pollinated," says Louise Saunders.Using appropriate netting for fruit trees is another deterrent, but Ms Saunders warns backyard drape can be cruel to bats."The flying foxes smell the fruit, they can't see the netting and they just get hopelessly entangled and it's a very cruel way to die," says Ms Saunders."For those who own horses, keeping horses away from the bats' food trees (such as figs, eucalypts, blood woods, spotted gum and black butt) is the most simple and practical way to reduce the risk.Mr Cook has applauded the horse industry on what he says is fantastic management of the Hendra risk.More about bats
Bats are the world's only flying mammal.They are divided into the species that eat fruits and nectar (flying foxes) and those that eat insects (micro bats).They can travel up to 250 kilometres in one night in search of food.Flying foxes only have one baby per year, making them more susceptible to population demise.A cautionary tale
In America, the passenger pigeon declined from a population of about 50 million to extinction within 20 years.The species had several important similarities to bats; it lived in large colonies and produced just one young a year.
http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2011/08/09/3289223.htm
The public discussion on bats in urban areas has come to a crescendo following this year's Hendra virus outbreak.
The tide of sentiment is swelling towards relocating urban bat colonies and some fed-up residents have attempted to move on flying foxes illegally.Why is it so difficult to find the balance between people's needs and bat conservation?General manager of conservation strategy and planning at the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service (QPWS), Clive Cook says bat colonies are protected for important reasons."The relative view that we're putting flying foxes before humans is totally untrue," says Mr Cook."The law is made to try and protect the balance... to ensure that we don't have a human-induced extinction process."All flying foxes and their roosts are protected by law and two species, the grey-headed and spectacled flying foxes, are nationally listed as vulnerable species.However, bats can be moved when a Damage Mitigation Permit has been granted by the Department of Enviroment and Resource Management.There are four active permits in Queensland, they are at Mackay, Bundall, Mount Ommaney and Mount Isa.Permits are currently being considered for colonies in Gayndah, Barcaldine and the Lockyer Valley, but DERM has rejected applications for permits in Charters Towers and Nambour.However, Griffith University researcher Billie Roberts, who has been assessing bat dispersal programs along the east coast of Australia, says they rarely have much success."If the animals move at all, they typically only move a very short distance... less than 500 metres from the original location," says Ms Roberts."And you end up with more people being affected and the management of these new sites can be difficult."Even if you were successful in moving the animals because they are so mobile and because they move between campsites frequently any result would only be temporary."Ms Roberts says dispersing flying foxes is also more difficult and costly than communities anticipate."For example, in Maclean in northern New South Wales, they've had ten years of dispersal attempts over a million dollars and they're continuing to relocate them on a regular basis."Now we have a greater number of residents affected... we have new populations, one at Iluka and one at Maclean (300 metres from the original site), that need to be managed.Taking matters into their own hands
Some residents have been attempting to move bats on using any technique that works."We've tried everything," says Robyn Burgess, whose Gold Coast home borders a large flying fox colony."It's the smell and the noise as far as we're concerned."Ms Burgess and her neighbours have received official warnings from DERM after illegally using air horns in a bid to move the bats away."They are the most beautiful animals, we realise they're meant to be there but there's way too many of them," says Ms Burgess.Clive Cook from DERM has lived near a bat colony and says he understands what residents going through."We totally empathise with the situation... they are noisy, they're smelly."But we are concerned about people taking unilateral action."By shifting them out of their backyard, they're just shifting them into somebody else's backyard."There have also been attacks on bats, which the RSPCA is investigating.The President of Bat Conservation and Rescue Queensland, Louise Saunders, says her organisation is seeing evidence of vigilante action."I've had members ringing up and crying because they just can't understand why people are being so awful to the animals that we consider to be beautiful," says Ms Saunders."I think it's because people don't understand the importance or how magnificent these animals really are."Stress and disease
Mr Cook says the stress caused when people try and deter the animals could lead to those residents becoming liable for the spread of bat-borne disease."The best advice that we've got at the moment is that stress in flying foxes lowers their resistance and potentially increases the risk of Hendra being exuded from the animals," he says."If it could be demonstrated that an individual or a group that has dispersed flying foxes that then subsequently have infected something else... there is a potential liability issue."This is the reason why the permits are so important."In us (DERM) considering an application, we potentially incur a form of liability."There hasn't been any specific research to link habitat disturbance with increases the Hendra virus but Billie Roberts says work in the Northern Territory has shown a link with another kind of stress."It found that in times of nutritional stress that the prevalence of disease in flying foxes increases," says Ms Roberts."(Dispersal) is a significant stress on the species and we need to be taking that conservative approach."Bats in the 'burbs
Why are bats camping in suburban areas anyway?The Department of Environment and Resource Management says as the population grows and people need more places to live, development is encroaching on bat habitats."One of the ironies here is that humans have come into the equation; humans have spread out and urbanised the landscape," says Clive Cook."We should have expected that wildlife would be affected by humans' modifications of the landscape."Researcher Billie Roberts says backyard gardening has incidentally created attractive habitats for bats in urban areas."In many areas, we have actually planted food trees that are attractive to flying foxes... we've planted a number of nectar-excreting plants such as grevillias and eucalypts."Many of these trees are now mature and we're not only attracting birds, we're attracting flying foxes. We're creating a regular and reliable food source for these animals."Louise Saunders from Bat Rescue and Conservation Queensland says there's also a seasonal factor."The (bat) population is all up here in Queensland, enjoying this amazing flowering of eucalypts and melaleucas."It doesn't mean that they're out of control and the populations are going crazy, it only means that they're here in relation to the flowering."Food trees have already been removed in one dispersal program (under a Damage Mitigation Permit), near the Gold Coast Turf Club, resulting in the flying fox colony moving away.Although Mr Cook cautions such a strategy will only work when they can be certain there is a more appropriate new home and the bats will definately move there, rather than somewhere just as troublesome.
DERM's long-term bat management plan includes preparing more appropriate habitat areas away from homes."Planting areas of suitable habitat to encourage flying foxes to be there, rather than where you don't want them," says Mr Cook.In the short-term, researcher Billie Roberts says removing nectar-producing trees would increase food pressures on flying foxes."So that might be quite counter-productive, we might actually increase disease spill-overs rather than decrease them."The relative riskHowever, Ms Roberts says the risks of living next to flying foxes have been amplified."There seems to be much hysteria within the general community and much of the comments don't seem to be using science," says Ms Roberts.Current evidence from Biosecurity Queensland shows people cannot get Hendra directly from bats or their fluids and lyssavirus can only be contracted through a bat bite or scratch that is left untreated.Bat carers are in regular contact with flying foxes yet Queensland Health testing showed none of them had contracted the disease."We flying fox carers are the evidence that you cannot get Hendra virus from flying foxes," says Louise Saunders from Bat Conservation and Rescue Queensland.Flying foxes avoid contact with humans, further reducing the risk.Why bats matter
Flying foxes are Australia's long range pollinators and seed dispersers.Without them, eucalypts couldn't hybridise to keep up with climate change, rainforests would decline and commercial hardwoods would become weaker and more vulnerable to termites and wood grubs."If you were to follow the hypothesis that is 'get rid of them all', that would be an ecological catastrophe for Australia," says Mr Cook.Billie Roberts adds they are also very important for rainforests."If we like forests and we like rainforests, we need to maintain flying fox populations at reasonable numbers," she says.Keeping bats out legally
There are several things residents can do to discourage bats from their backyards.Cocos palms produce a bunch of seeds with a fruity coating that attracts bats but it isn't their natural food and leads to very sticky bat poo.The palms have been declared a weed by Brisbane City Council and a range of other local governments."Remove them if you can or cut the seeds off after the flowers have been pollinated," says Louise Saunders.Using appropriate netting for fruit trees is another deterrent, but Ms Saunders warns backyard drape can be cruel to bats."The flying foxes smell the fruit, they can't see the netting and they just get hopelessly entangled and it's a very cruel way to die," says Ms Saunders."For those who own horses, keeping horses away from the bats' food trees (such as figs, eucalypts, blood woods, spotted gum and black butt) is the most simple and practical way to reduce the risk.Mr Cook has applauded the horse industry on what he says is fantastic management of the Hendra risk.More about bats
Bats are the world's only flying mammal.They are divided into the species that eat fruits and nectar (flying foxes) and those that eat insects (micro bats).They can travel up to 250 kilometres in one night in search of food.Flying foxes only have one baby per year, making them more susceptible to population demise.A cautionary tale
In America, the passenger pigeon declined from a population of about 50 million to extinction within 20 years.The species had several important similarities to bats; it lived in large colonies and produced just one young a year.
