City bats here to stay

Project deterrents will make no difference

A CAIRNS councillor believes the city’s CBD will never be free of bats, no matter what the council does to manage the endangered animals.

The council yesterday began temporary deterrent works to prevent flying foxes from landing in a golden penda tree, on the corner of Lake and Aplin streets, diagonally opposite the City Library.

A council spokeswoman assured the tree was not part of the library roost and no deterrent activities were occurring at the library.

“Deterrents, such as noise and lights, will be used on the golden penda during roadworks in the immediate area,” she said.

“This is standard practice for CBD worksites to protect flying foxes from the impacts of construction works.

“Once works are completed, the deterrent activities will cease.”

In the meantime, the council has yet to formally lodge applications with the state and federal governments to relocate the City Library bat colony. The council is hoping the bats will be attracted to a flying fox care and release enclosure under construction at Arthur Strike Park, Edmonton.

The $72,000 enclosure, located towards Trinity Inlet, was chosen late last year instead of a proposed site at the City Swamp, due to concerns about aircraft flight paths.

Division 2 Councillor John Schilling hoped applications for the removal would be prepared within the next month.

He said there were plans to plant more trees to help lure flying foxes to the southside location.

“If we find the bats are congregating down there, we’ll certainly try to make them as comfortable as possible,” he said.

He did not, however, believe the council’s efforts would leave the CBD bat-free.

“No one can say that – not a scientist, not anyone,” he said.

“We’re not bat psychologists, unfortunately.

“But in the best interests of the bats, they’ve got to be moved away.

“There’s no hotter place for them, than the city.”

The Federal Government last month changed the conservation status of spectacled flying foxes from “vulnerable” to “endangered”.

The heatwave that affected the Far North late last year was estimated to have killed more than 23,000 spectacled flying foxes.