Flying foxes may join critical list
A CAIRNS bat expert has suggested the conservation status of the species be upgraded following the mass deaths in last month’s heatwave.
James Cook University research scientist David Westcott said the death of 23,000 flying foxes during a two-day heatwave in late November equated to a third of the Far North Queensland population.
He said an escalation of the species in the threatened subset could mean the animal becomes listed as endangered or critically endangered.
“What that listing should do is provide justification and a focus for conservation,” he said.
Mr Westcott acknowledged the species contact with humans in the Far North has bred contempt in many.
KAP candidate for Leichhardt Daniel McCarthy said the bats “simply did not belong in town”.
“Love them or hate them bats are simply not compatible with living in the CBD,” he said.
Mr Westcott said the regional council had tried and failed to remove colonies from the Cairns CBD and suburban parks.
“We do need to act to conserve the species, but at the same time, irrespective of whether the species is endangered or not, we need to act to make living with the species as easy as possible,” he said.
“We have a long history of using very aggressive, lethal methods of controlling flying foxes and we have proved multiple times it does not work. So we need to be smarter.”
Scientists are working on new ways of removing colonies from city parks and gardens.
In the Cairns CBD this week a footpath was closed after a bat-laden tree fell outside the Cairns Library.
A council spokeswoman said the council did not have approvals to remove the tree.
“To protect the public from the risk of further falling branches, an exclusion zone has been created with a pedestrian detour,” she said.