Whitsunday Regional Council has devised a flying fox management plan with short and long-term strategies in hopes that concerted action could lessen the adverse impact of the protected species in Collinsville.
The population of Little Red and Black Flying Fox has caused major community discontent over the last two years in the Whitsundays northernmost township, with the species numbers fluctuating as high as 26,000 in September of 2022.
Collinsville residents’ prayers may have been answered after two years of complaints about the smell, defecations, and noise of fruit bats roosting in Pelican Park and across town, with Council’s new strategy.
Council’s Coordinator of Natural Resource Management, Scott Hardy, presented the ‘Pelican Park Flying Fox Roost Management Plan’ to Council at the ordinary meeting on Wednesday, April 12.
“The purpose of the Management Plan is to communicate Councils intensions to the State Government and to the community on how it plans to manage the Flying Fox issue in Collinsville,” Mr Hardy said.
The strategy, which incorporates community consultation feedback from June 2022, identifies short (the next two years) and long term (over two years) strategies, which include triggers and intervention methods.
Population triggers for the two species of flying fox take place when there are “more than 15 Black Flying Fox or more than 15 Little Red Flying Fox for more than seven days in the trees during the day,” whereupon Council contractors will employ the use of smoke and noise to deter the fox from settling.
Mr Hardy said that these short-term methods had been trialled before over the two years of Collinsville’s infestation with the protected species.
“They have been successful in some instances but have often forced them out of one part of town into another,” Mr Hardy said.
“That’s something we are going to be mindful of with this management plan. Because, in the end, the main, long-term goal is to move the flying fox out of Collinsville entirely – to achieve that is going to be potentially costly and have a long-term management strategy.”
Council will keep nearby residents aware of flying fox intervention activities into the future.
Whitsunday Regional Council are continuing efforts to address the Collinsville flying fox problem
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