Claim bat fix won't help city residents
By David Lewis
Posted May 15, 2012 09:36:47
A resident on Queensland's Gold Coast says the LNP Government's new approach to controlling flying foxes might work in the bush but it will not help city dwellers.
The State Government will allow the authorised shooting of bats but only if attempts to relocate the animals have failed.
Robyn Burgess last year used an air horn to try to disperse a colony of flying foxes roosting near her Southport home.
She says the problem will persist in urban areas because shooting permits will only be issued to rural residents.
"My understanding is that it's an absolute last resort from a farm situation if they can't control them some other way," she said.
"The most likely way that they will control them, certainly in our situation in town, will be to modify the vegetation."
She says the Government is not making it easy for city dwellers to get rid of the animals.
"They're a major problem," she said.
"We've got 28 bat colonies in and around the Gold Coast, which means that - yes, they're in the colonies - but every night they fly out and they're in everybody's backyards.
"These are intelligent creatures - they don't want to stay out in the bush and fly hundreds of kilometres each night when they can fly 500 metres and get a feed."
