Driving them bats

[Gob]

an they aint getting it either...

[oldr_n_wsr]

Possums are good eatin'. Just open hunting season and invite a few "good ol' boys" down under.

[loCAtek]

Time for a Bat in a Blanket;

[Gob]

The 22,000-strong colony of bats at Sydney's Royal Botanic Gardens have been given a reprieve.

A plan to chase them out of the park has been postponed for a year.

The Domain Trust was scheduled to drive the grey-headed flying foxes out of the gardens this month, using speakers mounted on buggies that were to blast out recorded sounds of engines starting and metal being banged.

But the trust's acting executive director, Brett Summerell, said staff wanted to collect more information about the bats before they were pushed to resettle in other flying fox camps in Cabramatta, Ku-ring-gai and Parramatta.

"It's important we collect more information on fitting radio and satellite collars so we can reduce any potential impact on the flying foxes," he said in a statement released by the trust today.

Dr Summerell said the additional monitoring would help researchers get baseline data on the movements of the bats during May and July - the period when the relocation is due to be carried out.

May and July are when the colony at the gardens is believed to be at its lowest.



Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/environment/anima ... z1MUNG6pFr

[Gob]

This year's attempt.

Flying-fox relocation

Update: Thursday 7 June 2012
•The relocation noise disturbance resumed last night after a 24-hour pause due to inclement weather and continued again this morning.
•The population size of flying-foxes has visibly declined, although it is much too early to say whether that is the beginning of a pattern.



The Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust flying-fox relocation program has been approved by both Federal and State governments after a long consultation process that took into account scientific and animal welfare considerations. It is a humane and safe program that will give the Garden a chance to recover.

The relocation is expected to take several weeks and must be undertaken between May and July. It will involve intermittent recorded noise being played within the central areas of the Garden to disturb the flying-foxes. The noise disturbance will be limited to 75 minutes within a 24-hour period, including up to 45 minutes before dawn and up to 30 minutes around sunset.

The flying-foxes roost in the Garden during the day and feed on fruit and pollen and nectar from flowers at night, flying up to 35 km to find suitable food. The program is not expected to change the flying-fox feeding habits and they will still be able to feed at the Garden following the relocation.

Over the past 20 years, flying-fox roosting activities have caused extensive damage to valuable heritage trees in the Royal Botanic Garden, with more than 28 trees and 30 palms already lost and several hundred more trees and plants damaged, 60 critically.

The strict approval conditions require that the flying-foxes relocate to suitable locations away from homes. If they settle in unacceptable locations, the Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust is committed to moving them on from there, in consultation with the landowner, using the same noise disturbance method approved for use in the Garden.

The relocation program has also involved the most comprehensive research, monitoring and scientific study believed to have ever been undertaken on the species. The research is expected to contribute to the long-term conservation of flying foxes and includes monitoring of the condition of the flying-foxes within the Garden colony and the movements of banded and satellite-tagged animals.

Monitoring conducted over the past two years has shown that flying-foxes move readily between existing colonies across Sydney and they are most likely to relocate to areas they are familiar with.


http://www.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/welcome/fe ... relocation