SINGLETON Council has declared war on the bat population in Burdekin Park, and this time they are ready to start shooting.
After exhausting all options to rid Singleton’s picturesque Burdekin Park of its grey headed flying fox colony the fight is getting serious with councillors voting at Monday night’s meeting to apply for permission to cull the flying foxes.
Singleton Council’s parks and facilities manager Alan Fletcher said he realised it was an extreme action to take but it had a high chance of success and would eliminate the likelihood of the bats moving to another location in Singleton.
“We’ve tried everything and although these ideas are extreme it really is the end of the line,” he said.
He said the bats were damaging trees in the park some thought to be more 120 years old and this was impacting on the heritage value of the park.
He said the only other option left was to remove all the trees from the park and this would be unlikely to be approved under Singleton’s Local Environment Plan 1996 and would also result in loss of shade.
Mr Fletcher said earlier this month Singleton Council were issued with approval to use ‘birdfrite’ cartridges, a sound deterrent system, a fire hose and the chemical D-Ter from Department of Environment and Climate Change, but there were so many conditions attached it proved cost prohibitive and with no guarantees.
It was estimated to cost Singleton Council around $100,000 annually to implement the procedures.
Local bat activist Les Shilton who has been involved in ridding Burdekin Park of its flying fox colony since 2004 (the man responsible for the modified lawn mowers operation)said they were destroying the park and many trees had died as a result of bat activity.
He said the health risk associated with the grey-headed flying foxes was being overlooked and it was not simply the lyssa virus but now the deadly hendra virus that posed a very real and deadly health threat.
He said after his week long stint with the modified mowers back in 2005 he has not felt the same since.
“They pee all day and that is falling on people and going into the air,” he said.
“The irony is they are killing the park and when the trees go, the bats will go too,” he said.
Numerous community groups who previously held their events in the local park have moved to other locations, no longer prepared to take their chances with the bat faeces and urine falling from above.
The Singleton Council will now seek permission from the Department of Environment and Climate Change under the NSW Threatened Species Act 1995 and the Federal Environmental Protection and Bio-Diversity Conservation Act 1999 to cull the flying foxes and they also will be seeking permission from the NSW Fire Arms Registry to discharge a firearm in Burdekin Park.
Meanwhile Les and Joyce Shilton have scheduled a meeting at Club Singleton on November 14 at 7pm to gauge community reaction to the bats.
“This is a chance to send a clear message to the government that something has to be done,” Mr Shilton said.
“I believe the only thing that will have an impact is if the bats are harmed.
“As long as they feel safe they won’t be going anywhere and we might as well say goodbye to Burdekin Park,” he said.