Bateman’s Bay is a sleepy town 280 kilometres southwest of Sydney in Australia. It was given its name by the British explorer Captain James Cook, in 1777. It’s a pretty place and thousands of people travel there every year to enjoy their summer holiday by the Tasman Sea.
This year has been an unusual one for the 11,300 people who live in Bateman’s Bay. Instead of thousands of tourists arriving, over 100,000 Grey Headed Flying Fox Bats flew in instead! It has been said that the bats were attracted to the flowers growing on the trees. These flowers are an important food source for the bats, but their arrival has caused a real commotion.
There are only 680,000 Grey Headed Flying Fox Bats in Australia, which means that Bateman’s Bay is now home to 25 per cent of its population. They are native to Australia, which means they cannot be found anywhere else in the world. They are also known as ‘Megabats’. Why? Because they are huge. They are the largest species of bat in Australia and have a wingspan of up to one metre. They weigh about one kilogram and can live for 23 years.
The people of Bateman’s Bay are not at all happy about their visitors. It has been reported in the press that every single tree in the town has at least one bat family living in it. Because there are so few of this species, the female Grey Headed Flying Fox is protected, making it illegal to kill them.
What can be done?
No-one wants to harm the bats, but they certainly do not want them to continue to live in such a large number in this small town. The noise the bats make throughout the day and night time is deafening. People complain that it is like living in a prison. It’s not only the noise, either. The smell and droppings of bat poo are driving everyone crazy.
The local government has offered HK$16 million to help solve the problem. Getting rid of them though, is not that easy. One suggestion has been to use smoke, which the bats do not like. The humans living there don’t like smoke that much either. Another suggestion is to make a deafening noise and use bright flashing lights which may drive the bats away. If these ideas do not work, it may be necessary to start cutting down the trees where they are living. No-one wants to do this.
The bats have been there now for over six months. Everyone is upset and angry. No-one likes the bats, and no-one likes the solutions. And the biggest question of all is why such a large number of these bats decided to make Bateman’s Bay their home in the first place.
Watch the bats in Bateman’s Bay:
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