THE IMPORTANCE OF FLYING FOXES

Valley Watch member Linda Wright has started a petition to NSW Minister for the Environment Rob Stokes calling on him to promote work towards the satisfactory co-existence of humans with lying Foxes in all roosts in NSW, including those of the nationally endangered Grey-headed Flying Fox. The link to the petition is at the bottom of this post.

Linda outlines her case about the importance of flying foxes below.

Flying-foxes are regarded as a keystone species in our forests because they spread  seeds and pollinate blossoms over larger areas than do birds and insects. Forest health depends upon Flying-foxes. Many trees, particularly commercial hardwoods, produce their nectar specifically atnight, when Flying-foxes are at work, and would not survive without them.

As human population expands further and further into Flying-fox  habitat and destroys more and more of it, there is greater contact. The media spreads hysterical misinformation. People do not realize that not only are these animals indispensable to our forests, but they are also intelligent,  highly social, clean and attractive.

Health professionals, including from NSW Health,  tell us that the health  risk posed by them is minimal, given  sensible human behaviour - if we simply don't touch bats, we cannot become  ill from them.

Attempts to move roosts ('dispersals') are expensive, and often the animals move to a less favourable location.  In most cases the animals continually return, and repeated disturbance of them incurs more expense and inconvenience to local people. Disturbances are also cruel as they result in high-level stress for animals that would normally be asleep, which may be pregnant, or have dependent young. They can cause mass loss of unborn babies, and of young due to separation from their mothers.

As Flying-foxes only have one young per year, their populations  are slow to recover from losses through persecution, droughts, and mass mortalities from heat stress. Disturbances are no way to recover a  threatened species!

Culling is never an  option because the animals are migratory. If local animals are removed others will simply take their place. Furthermore it is cruel. No method ensures a quick clean death. Nor is the 'training' of the animals in a roost a viable option due to the transitory habits of Flying-foxes - it would be impossible for  'training' to be done on all the animals that may visit a roost at different times.

The great need is for better public education and management of roosts without attempting to move them. We need to take responsibility for protecting Flying-foxes and their habitats and to make sure there are enough food and roost sites.

Good management of existing roosts includes providing buffers to residential areas and educating people about these animals. We need to accept the advice of our health professionals, to understand the importance of Flying-foxes to our natural landscape, and to find it in ourselves to live alongside wildlife as best we can.

- Linda Wright

LINDA'S PETITION

FLYING FOXES VITAL TO THE TIMBER INDUSTRY

Some studies have already demonstrated the role flying-foxes play in pollinating native forests, but a recent study in Ghana by biologist Dr Dan Taylor BCI has determined more firmly the species' value in timber production. This study focussed on the Iroko tree, the source of 17% of Ghana’s timber revenue, and found that only bats scatter undamaged seeds from Iroko fruit in vast quantities - often up to 300 million seeds each night - across many kilometres of forest floor.

Australian flying-foxes live mainly on nectar, and our eucalypt trees have adapted to nocturnal pollination by producing pale flowers at the ends of their branches, and their greatest nectar levels around midnight. This ensures pollen is carried often up to 50km radius on flying-foxes’ fur. In spring and summer when roosts become maternity and creche sites the females in particular must find their food in closer forests. At this time the animals form defined streams at fly-out time heading towards the most prolific flowering forests, mostly ignoring semi-ripe domestic fruit in orchards and gardens

During migration in March and April their diet shifts to ripened forest fruits, to maintain higher energy levels and keep their bellies full for longer distances. Australia's most juicy fruiting trees and shrubs (figs, lilly-pilly, koda etc) occur mostly in rainforests, but these have been so decimated by human activities that with domestic fruits fully ripe by this time, it is quite unrealistic to expect hungry animals not to use them.

Similarly in the breeding season, if the trees fail to blossom or produce abundant nectar, then ripening domestic fruits become their target. During drought times 25% of flying-foxes shot or wounded under licence are lactating or pregnant females. It is also well-known by wildlife care groups that if flying-foxes attack banana or coffee plantations, they are starving.

We can all learn from the actions of one small African nation. In Ghana flying-foxes are now fully protected, and the government is busy establishing educational and viewing facilities to aid their eco-tourist trade and forestry industry.

Perhaps instead of negative reactions of aggression and abuse, of animals that are working at growing our most useful timber trees, people who live in sight of a flying-fox colony might open their doors to tourists at a cost of $20 a head, with coffee and a bun included in a chance to study and photograph these amazing, unique animals.

- P Edwards

EARTH MATTERS, Monday 18th July

Flying-Fox Ecology and Management

Presented by Billie Roberts, PhD student Griffith University

Flying-foxes are large bats that routinely move large distances in response to the changing availability of fruit and nectar. They are important pollinators and seed dispersers for many plants within rainforests, eucalypt forests, woodlands and wetlands. Roosting during the day in large communal camps, the number of animals in these camps can fluctuate widely at different times of the year and from one year to the next, reflecting nearby food resources.

In Maclean and many other areas, there is a history of conflict between humans and flying-foxes. Conflict arises when flying-foxes establish new camps close to residential areas or when people construct houses or public buildings too close to existing camp sites. In these areas, it is often proposed that camps be relocated elsewhere, despite such attempts being costly and rarely successful. In cases where animals do relocate, the new sites they select are often positioned in unanticipated and undesirable locations.

It is clear that these conflicts are likely to be ongoing, requiring broadly acceptable management solutions. Billie is currently a PhD candidate at Griffith University studying landscape use by Grey-headed Flying-foxes. Over the past five years she has assisted land managers in developing management plans for a number of controversial flying-fox camps in New South Wales and South East Queensland.  

 The presentation will be held in the Staffroom at Grafton Public School,

Queen Street, Grafton  from

5.30 – 7 p.m.