At its peak, there were over 26,000 Flying Foxes roosting in trees throughout Collinsville and although this number has now dropped to as little as 3000, Collinsville resident Graham Buckley said the issue remains a big one.
“Council have been successful at moving them out of the yards, but on public land they are still a nuisance,” he said.
“Kids can’t use the play park and we are all still disturbed by the noise and the smell, having to wash everything.
“If they are going to come back again next year – what is Council going to do to help? – what they’ve done so far is just a temporary fix, we want to get rid of them permanently.”
Scott Hardy, Manager Natural Resource Management and Climate for Whitsunday Regional Council said that Flying Foxes are causing issues in towns along the Queensland coast.
In recent months, his team have been in contact with other Councils to share experiences in managing Flying fox roosts but, unfortunately, there does not seem to be an easy or quick answer to the problem.
“Pelican Park is a roost site,” he said.
“However, once the flying fox leave in the next few weeks, the council will put in place a number of actions for when they return to deter them.
“Once the first flying fox are sighted next year, Council will undertake smoking and install the inflatable wavy men to deter the Flying fox scouts from settling.”
Both these measures have proven successful this year and Council are hoping that implementing the measures prior to numbers soaring will mean Flying Foxes will move on and not settle for the season.
In the meantime, Mr Hardy said that Council staff have re-commenced the mowing and maintenance activities in the park.
“Council is also considering a smoking action in the park to move them out, however, the risk is that they will go into residential properties,” he said.
