A huge swarm of 100,000 scary megabats has attacked the town of Batemans Bay in New South Wales, Australia, causing the locals to feel like prisoners in their homes.
The grey-headed bats have sheltered themselves in most of the trees in the town. And residents are scared to open their windows and doors due to the awful smell and unbearable noise, according to Daily Mail.
“We’ve had over 100,000 flying foxes settle in Batemans Bay, we think that represents about a quarter to a fifth of the entire national population, so it has been quite an extraordinary circumstance,” Mark Speakman, NSW Environment Minister, told ABC.
“We’ve had many residents complain, they feel they’re prisoners in their own homes, they can’t go out, they have to have air conditioning on the whole time, windows closed,” he added.
A state of emergency has also been declared in the town. And this seems to be the biggest invasion of bats ever in Australia. The bats are one of the vulnerable species, so nobody can kill them. The non-lethal methods are the only options left for authorities. Speakman says that the foremost method is to relocate the megabats.
The Eurobodalla Council has proposed two plans to solve the situation. One method is to spray trees and use deterrents to shoo them away. In the second method, the council plans to use giant inflatable tubes meant to scare them away.
However, the final decision on methods is yet to be finalized.
“We have to wait and see what the council’s consultants advise on the best dispersal techniques,” said Local MP Andrew Constance.
“The community is desperate for any solution to be tried,” he added.
Animals rights group, however, says that it is better to leave the bats alone. They will leave on their own after some time. According to ITV, the government has also stepped forward to commit US$1.8m (£1.23m) to scatter the megabats from the town.
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