Sydney's bats get the boot

By:AG Staff with AAP | May-14-2010

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Flying foxes are to get a noisy eviction from the city's Royal Botanic Gardens.

Grey-headed flying foxes have been causing massive damage to the botanic gardens (Photo: Grahame McConnell)

GREY-HEADED FLYING FOXES are set to be driven out of Sydney's Royal Botanic Gardens using industrial noise, after Minister for Environment Protection, Peter Garret, gave his approval today.

Grey-headed flying foxes are a threatened species protected under both state and national environment law, and play a crucial role in pollination and seed dispersal in native forests. But the Botanic Gardens Trust applied for federal government approval to remove them after a colony of up to 22,000 animals killed 26 mature trees and 20 palms, while continuing to threaten 300 more.

The Trust proposes using industrial noise such as motors and loud banging which has been successfully used in Melbourne's Royal Botanic Gardens. Conservationists argued the method there was cruel, but the Trust has already tried deterring the flying foxes with everything from strobe lights to shrimp paste and hanging up bags of python poo.

“The damage they are inflicting on our heritage trees is terrible and it will get worse,” says Dr Tim Executive Director of the Sydney Royal Botanic Gardens Trust. “After a long consultation process and taking into account scientific and animal welfare considerations, a safe and humane plan has been developed to relocate the flying-foxes and give the gardens a chance to recover."

Terrible damage to trees

Minister Garrett said he was confident there would be no ill effects on the flying foxes, after a thorough environmental assessment. "I have imposed strict conditions to ensure the dispersal happens in a way that minimises impacts," he said in a statement. "The dispersal activity must happen within a limited time frame to avoid disrupting the camp during the sensitive breeding and roosting season."

"An independent observer group and panel with expertise in animal biology and grey-headed flying foxes must oversee all aspects of the operation, and report back to my department," added the minister.

The Trust will be responsible for the project, including ensuring the colony relocates to an appropriate site. It will also be accountable for any safety risks and must conduct a public health risk analysis before the operation.

Tim says that “as part of the relocation, the Botanic Gardens Trust will conduct the most extensive scientific research projects ever on this threatened species, contributing to conservation work to protect them. Tagging and radio tracking of the flying-foxes will provide essential information on their patterns of movement, helping to manage the relocation."

Relocation operations with intermittent noise are scheduled to begin in June, when flying fox numbers are at their lowest during the year.

Australia’s first state is home to some of the country’s most beautiful treasures. The Great Dividing Range, like a gigantic backbone, supports snowfields to the south and majestic rainforests to the north, and separates the red sandhills from the picturesque surf beaches of the Pacific.

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Comments 10

Helena

14 May 2010

where will they be relocated to? Report
Tony

14 May 2010

Helena, The Botanic Gardens Trust admits that while there's places they would like the bats to relocate to, they really don't have any control over it. It's a real shame AG didn't seek some conservationists comment on this piece rather than just swallowing The Trust's perspective. I would have expected better of them. Tony H. Report
Heather

14 May 2010

This is not good news for an already threatened species, which has declined in population size over 30% in just over ten years. The bats are increasingly taking up residence in urban areas because of the loss of foraging habitat as our native forests are destroyed, and the Sydney Botanic Gardens is an important colony because of the year-round food availability. It's also an important colony as it is not as affected by the summer heat-induced mass die-offs that occur in many other flying-fox colonies. Report
Heather

14 May 2010

A far better (and less expensive) alternative would have been to identify trees of high conservation priority and protect them with exclusion netting, or planting more native trees that are able to cope with serving as flying-foxes roosts. The RBG is just too resistant to change. Report
Heather

14 May 2010

A far better (and less expensive) alternative would have been to identify trees of high conservation priority and protect them with exclusion netting, or planting more native trees that are able to cope with serving as flying-foxes roosts. The RBG is just too resistant to change. Report
michael c

18 May 2010

This action by the garden will preserve trees for a few more decades, while contributing
to the long term downfall of a native endangered species. It's faulty thinking. The bats have been in Australia for millions of years. The garden has been here for less than 200. There will be protests about this and i urge everyone to join.
Report
kathy t

14 Jun 2010

It is a shame to move the bats but I have seen the trees, they are huge , were once wonderful
and are now destroyed. The bats will survive. Report
kathy t

14 Jun 2010

It is a shame to move the bats but I have seen the trees, they are huge , were once wonderful
and are now destroyed. The bats will survive. Report
Saskia

17 Jul 2010

Hi, I'm visiting Sydney in August. Are the bats still there or have they already gone, I really want to see these bats in the wild as they were the most memorable thing I remember about visiting Auz. Report
Dan

06 Aug 2010

who cares they're just flying rodents that have a one track mind, eat, sleep, crap, mate, die. who cares about all these fancy methods taht cost heaps of $$$, a .22 rifle and 40,000 rounds of ammo is much cheaper. Report