Council And Community To Collaborate On Flying Fox Management Plan

A Community Engagement Session was recently hosted by Burdekin Shire Council, providing residents with the opportunity to raise concerns and share ideas on the management of flying foxes in the Shire.

Council has secured the services of Queensland based environmental consultancy company Ecosure Environmental Consulting to assist in developing a long-term flying fox roost management plan after funding was secured earlier this year.

Burdekin Shire Council CEO Terry Brennan said the overarching objective of the project is to create a document defining a clear way forward for staff and the community when managing flying foxes in the future.

“The five-year plan for flying fox management will be designed to prioritise public safety, the protection of flying foxes and the local amenity, and to maintain critical infrastructure,” he said.

“The plan will include short- and long-term strategies for management including community education, vegetation management, and mitigating conflict where human and wildlife interactions occur.”

Ecosure Environmental Consulting Senior Ecologist Dr John Martin said the company will utilise its 20 years of experience in flying fox management and community engagement to work towards a meaningful plan while acknowledging the fact that black flying foxes in town are a native and protected species.

He said a range of dispersal tools can be used, saying Council’s current method of light and sound can deter the animals from roosting in a certain location.

“The bats are moving and there can be different bats in a roost in one day, week or month to the next,” he said.

“If that is a tool that’s utilised in an appropriate way under the relevant permits, what we have seen is that flying foxes will move to other roost sites.

“There are rules around the amount of noise that can be made, the timing, the seasonality in respect to things like breeding, so the idea is that there is actually no harm to the animals, but they actively make a choice to move on.

“This is a very challenging space to get it right and it requires long-term, persistent management that aligns with the state government’s legislation.”

Dr Martin highlighted the flying fox’s importance to the ecosystem, saying they are a protective native species and that the risk of disease transmission, a common misconception associated with flying foxes, is extremely low.

“Think of them like a giant bee,” he said.

“They’re actually out there pollinating the trees, in particular the gumtrees that are so important to our landscape.”

Council’s current planned dispersal activities will continue to be carried out using sound and light, adhering to the State Government permit that ensures minimal harm to flying foxes.

Ecosure will survey the community to develop a draft 5-year plan to be submitted to Council and then the community in April 2024, with the final plan being completed in May 2024.

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Caption: 250-300 flying foxes have been observed roosting in five locations across the Burdekin

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