If you've spent any time in North Queensland, there is a good chance you've come across some of our native flying foxes. The Townsville region is home to two species: Black Flying-foxes and Little Red Flying-foxes. They are long-range pollinators, critical to the health of our ecosystems.
"They are a keystone species which is not a term given lightly. These intelligent creatures are our forest builders, they are critical to our local ecosystems. Some of our rainforest species can only be pollinated by the flying-foxes in the early hours of the morning when the other nocturnal pollinators are already asleep."
- Phillip England, Stonedeaf Wildlife
While their ecological importance is recognised in legislation (they are protected under the Nature Conservation Act), their roosting habits can be highly contentious. The local media features them often as a source of human-wildlife conflict, particularly when they move into urban or residential areas in large numbers. It is not unusual to hear local residents in the media and online describing them as dirty, noisy, smelly, disease-carrying, lice-ridden pests that should be eradicated, culled or at the very least "moved on".
As they are protected from eradication or culling programs, is "moving them on" a viable and sustainable option?
“Flying foxes move from place to place; we need to stop being scared and making these snap judgements when roost populations increase, and start understanding that these movements are seasonal. We humans don’t live in a bubble, we should know better than that. We have two jewels in our Queensland crown – the rainforests and the reef – and we can already directly see the impact of the declining populations of flying foxes on the rainforests.”
- Liz Downes, Wildlife Queensland Townsville Branch
Several local councils in North Queensland have invested significant resources into dispersing flying-fox roosts. The vast majority of these efforts have been unsuccessful.
"In the past decade, local governments in Townsville, Charters Towers, Home Hill and Ingham have all attempted to relocate colonies... Techniques which have been used include noise, fogging, fires, water cannons, paint guns, fireworks, sprinklers, whips and helicopters. In some locations, the colony moved on... in most cases, the flying-foxes came back."
- Dominique Thiriet
Dispersals activities are also not without harm to the species, causing constant stress, abortions and the separation of babies from their mothers, leaving them incredibly vulnerable.
"We end up with a lot of orphan babies because a lot of councils keep moving the parents in inhumane ways... By the time we reach the area that same morning, the babies are on the ground in distress."
- Phillip England
There are a number of Local Government Areas in Queensland that have identified that dispersal is not an effective management tool for Flying-fox roosts in urban areas, and have developed Statements of Management Intents that explicitly rule out dispersal. Both Brisbane City Council and Moreton Bay Regional Council have cited the following reasons for excluding dispersal in their Statement of Management Intents:
- Uncertainty of outcomes
- Can result in the relocation of Flying-foxes to less suitable locations and splinter colonies
- Flying-foxes will usually return to the area they were moved from, providing no measurable benefit for local residents
- Additional disruption to the community
- Methods of dispersal can be extremely distressing for residents and domestic animals
- High costs
- Likelihood of need for on-going/follow up dispersal efforts.
So, if dispersals are expensive, harmful and generally ineffective, what other options exist for managing Flying-fox roosts in residential areas?
- The most successful management approaches take a holistic view of roost management across a region, identifying roost locations and points of community conflict, with the aim of resolving the conflict with the least intrusive methods.
- Habitat restoration and protection is an important method for ensuring local colonies have somewhere to go, and can help reduce the concentration of roosts in residential areas.
- Conflict reduction actions which have a positive impact on a species should be undertaken as a first step. For example where a flying-fox roost is negatively impacting the health of roost trees, planting additional roost trees nearby can help distribute the load.
- Care should be taken to ensure any higher impact actions conform with local First Nations Lore (e.g. interfering with a flying-fox roost during breeding, birthing or rearing season may breach local cultural protocols).
- Steps should be taken to actively improve public education, to help reduce risks to human health and local species.
"...The relentless harassment of native wildlife by local governments... sends the dreadful message that native animals are not welcome in our towns. It is time to give up on dispersals and instead spend precious resources on public education programs.”
- Dominique Thiriet
Living alongside wildlife can be challenging, particularly when population numbers are high. Harming our flying-foxes or reducing their numbers would have devastating impacts on our ecosystems, and roost dispersals are not the silver bullet solution they sometimes made out to be.
Generally speaking, the secret to living in harmony with any species is to effectively manage their habitat. North Queensland requires a landscape-scale approach to restoring and protecting suitable flying-fox habitat to ensure our local populations can safely move across our region, paired with adequate community education and First Nations consultation.
In Queensland, local councils are responsible for managing flying-fox roosts, which is a barrier for landscape-wide management. Realistically, our councils need to come together for a regional, holistic approach for managing, restoring and protecting suitable flying-fox habitats.
"We want councils to show more compassion for how they manage the flying-foxes and listen to the experts in how to manage them. We need this to be done in a humane way and find a balance of managing the needs of the wildlife and of the people.”
- Phillip England
RESOURCES
Flying Fox Roost Management Reform for Queensland - CAFNEC and EDO, 2021
Flying Fox Factsheet - Townsville City Council, 2024
Black Flying-Fox - Wildlife Queensland
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