(Australia) Bats thrive as experts ponder

[Guest guest]

>The Australian Newspaper

>10/1/2001

>

>Bat Plague

>

>A plague of protected native bats had

>invaded the Royal Botanic Gardens and was

>destroying hundreds of rare plants,

>gardens director Phillip Morris has warned.

>

>The grey-headed flying fox bats

>have taken over Fern Gully, the garden's

>centrepiece of subtropical flora, and have eaten

>their way through more than 2000 plants,

>including 100 species listed in Australia

>as rare an threatened.

>

>End.

 

Bats thrive as experts ponder

By SALLY FINLAY

The Age

Tuesday 9 January 2001

 

With its bat population approaching record levels, the Royal Botanic

Gardens has been dealt another blow by a delay in an inquiry into whether

the species should be listed as endangered.

 

The grey-headed flying foxes, commonly known as bats, have damaged a third

of the gardens by stripping the foliage off trees and ferns and harming

ground plants with their urine and faeces.

 

Gardens administrators had expected the scientific advisory committee,

which advises on whether to list animals as endangered, to make its final

recommendation regarding the bats to the Environment Minister by the end of

this month. But the Department of Natural Resources and Environment has

warned it could take months.

 

In the meantime, the gardens anticipate the bat colony will swell to record

numbers in late summer and early autumn, with current levels close to 5000

and several thousand more expected to migrate from New South Wales.

 

" The damage to the gardens is greater than in previous years because of the

numbers, which destroy any chance the canopy had to repair, " said the

divisional director of Melbourne gardens, Richard Barley.

 

A preliminary finding by the committee in May last year recommended that

the grey-headed flying foxes be protected. It released its findings for

public comment before Christmas and has received mixed reaction.

 

The gardens' manager of flora and fauna, Robert Begg, said the scientific

community's response to the initial recommendation was so bitterly divided

that the department would invite experts to a forum this month to further

inform the committee. He said the committee was under no pressure to

finalise its recommendation to the minister, who will have 30 days to

consider the finding.

 

" They (the committee) can take as much time as they like, depending on what

information they need to gather, " he said. " When all scientists are

divided, then it is very difficult for the committee to decide who is in

the right. "

 

It is not in the committee's terms of reference to consider the social or

economic impacts of the species.

 

Dr Begg said there was dispute over the number of bats in Australia, the

distribution of thespecies and what affected their distribution.

 

He said that if the listing were successful, it would not necessarily

prevent the granting of a culling permit, but that it would have some

ramifications for the garden's future management.

 

Administrators have meanwhile abandoned their management plan for the bats,

pending the committee's decision. Its last attempt was a short-lived

culling of the bats. About 100 were killed before the culling was halted

when the species was nominated for endangered status.

 

" We have tried a range of things in the past and none with very much

success. We are getting pretty desperate, " Mr Barley said.

 

The bats have inhabited the gardens since the early 1980s and have resisted

attempts to drive them out with smoke, water sprays and drumming.

 

Signs remain in the gardens explaining the situation in Fern Gully, which

has been reopened to the public after checks for disease from the bats'

urine and faeces came back clear.

 

" It remains most unpleasant in terms of amenity with the mess and the smell

alarming visitors, " Mr Barley said.

 

Barry Jones recently included the gardens in his list of top 10 Melbourne

sites, and one which he believes should be a contender for the World

Heritage List.

 

This story was found at:

http://www.theage.com.au/news/2001/01/09/FFX7AFCZPHC.html

 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

and if that isn't enough

 

A Newspaper in Central Queensland, Australia has printed this letter in

the 'Letters to the Editor' on 11/01/2001

 

Quote:

 

'There is a good argument for all governments to take whatever measures

are needed to combat and eliminate the spread of lyssavirus from bats to

humans'.

 

'Recent reports of a large number of bats invading schools, heaven

forbid, must indicate

that governments should take a much stronger hand in this matter'.

 

In the not so distant past, a number of people have lost their lives

from being bitten or

scratched by these animals.

 

One such person was a horse trainer.

 

Then there has been a number of caring women who after resuscitating

sick or wounded

bats have been scratched or bitten when releasing a frightened animal

back into the world.

 

To date, only the larger bats that land in trees are known to carry a

deadly virus referred to, but it is well known there are many places

both large and small bats roost in close proximity, where the scene is

set for the deadly virus to pass from the large animal to the small

animal.

 

It is therefore, most essential that experts with National Parks

experience and know how be employed to do this work, as well as keep

watch for the possible infection of the virus throughout the bat world.

 

C. Long

Rockhampton

 

:Unquote.

 

Should you feel the urge to reply to this 'factual letter' please email

:

 

Morning Bulletin: tmbully

 

Attention: Letter to the Editor.

 

 

end