Plan B Forum

So, how do you get a colony of 22,000 bats to move out of Sydney's iconic Royal Botanic Gardens? And how do you get them to go where you want?
You get them cranky by playing irritating noises from a buggy while they are trying to sleep, then do the same if they try to stop at a place you don't want them to be at, such as Hyde Park, says the Domain Trust that runs the gardens.

The trouble is that those noises - recorded sounds of engines starting and metal being banged - are also annoying to anyone seeking a tranquil breather from the daily pace of the city.



The sun is about to set on Sydney's Royal Botanic Gardens as home for a large bat colony. Photo: Peter Rae

But that is what will happen at 10-minute intervals from about noon to 4pm each day for about a fortnight from May to make the grey-headed flying foxes wake up and leave the gardens.

It comes after a Federal Court ruling gave the Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust the go-ahead yesterday.

The hope is that the bats will move to existing flying fox camps in Cabramatta, Ku-ring-gai and Parramatta, the trust's executive director Tim Entwisle said.

But not everyone is in favour or thinks it will work.

The Bat Advocacy unsuccessfully tried to overturn former environment minister Peter Garrett's decision last year to let the trust evict the bats, which have been blamed for killing 27 trees and jeopardising another 300 since moving in two decades ago.

The trees and other plants are worn down by the bats' weight and movement.

The problem with the eviction, say opponents, is that only half the colony will be in residence in May - the other 10,000 or more will have flown north to mate and will then return to the gardens in August, after the program finishes.

A similar program in the early 1990s succeeded for a while but the flying foxes - which contrary to popular perception have eyesight as good as humans, and better at night - returned after the noises stopped, Dr Entwisle said.

He said he was optimistic that this operation would do better.

A similar operation at Melbourne's Royal Botanic Gardens in 2003 successfully relocated the bats to new roosting places after a few months.

But Alexia Wellbelove from the Humane Society International, which supported Bat Advocacy's Federal Court challenge, said: "You can't herd bats like other animals.

http://www.smh.com.au/environment/anima ... 1az2s.html

The second of the three types of translocation is re-introduction. Re-introduction is the deliberate or accidental translocation of a species into the wild in areas where it was indigenous at some point, but no longer at the present. Re-introduction is used as a wildlife management tool for the restoration of an original habitat when it has become altered or species have become extinct due to over-collecting, over-harvesting, human persecution, or habitat deterioration.

Wiki

Sydney bats

The most commonly seen bat in the Sydney area is the Grey-headed Flying-fox, a large nectar- and fruit-eating bat which roosts during the day in large treetop colonies.

The Grey-headed Flying-fox is listed as a threatened (vulnerable to extinction) species at State, Federal, and International levels.

Numbers are declining - from many millions in the 1930's to less than 450,000 in 2004, with an estimated 30% decline in population between 1990 and 2000. A recent population study (Divljam 2008) suggests the Grey-headed Flying-fox will be extinct in the wild in around 80-85 years.

Around 19 species of insect-eating Microbats are also found in the Sydney Region.

Flying foxes are to be relocated from the Sydney Botanical Gardens this May, by use of recorded sounds meant to discourage them from roosting.

Grey-headed Flying-foxes (Pteropus poliocephalus) are native and endemic to Australia and the largest member of the flying-fox family. While there are other species of flying-fox in Sydney’s Botanical Gardens, the Grey-headed Flying-fox is the most common.

Read more at Suite101: Bats in Sydney's Royal Botanical Gardens to be Relocated http://www.suite101.com/content/bats-in ... z1EWQHCEv5

AND lo, after the floods came frogs, then gnats, and after the gnats came locusts, and after the locusts came … possums.



Sydneysiders are using ''plague'' to describe what appears to be a boom in possum numbers, with the native animals trashing yards, ruining roofs and gorging on vegetable beds.

Stuart Ireland, a professional possum catcher, has removed the creatures from homes, malls, schools, even from Kirribilli House ("they were eating the pansies"), and the Harbour Bridge. Two years ago he removed 35 brushtails from the roof space of a school in the inner west.

"There are always possum problems in Sydney," he said. "But this summer we've been busier than ever. I have five employees, and we have been flat out, working 7am until 7pm, all over Sydney."

The National Parks and Wildlife Service has not recorded a rise in possum numbers in its parks, but it's a different story in the suburbs, with nurseries recording heavy losses.

''They hit the herb bench and ended up eating $2000 worth of stock," said Alan Fisk, manager of North Manly Garden Centre.

"We always get customers tearing their hair out, but it's the first time possums have damaged our place, which really says something. The only way we could stop them was throwing a 24-square-metre net over the plants every night."

Nursery owners at Warriewood and Terrey Hills tell a similar story. "Once they find a row of plants they like they will come every night until there's nothing left," said Gabrielle Bryant, manager of Flower Power wholesale nursery at Warriewood.

http://www.smh.com.au/environment/anima ... 1b8s8.html