It's hard to forget the scream of a flying fox being electrocuted. It's hard to forgive farmers for slaughtering thousands of flying foxes and calling it crop protection. And it's even harder to forgive a government department charged with protecting our wildlife for allowing or ignoring such slaughter.

With the help of many others, Carol Booth, a volunteer with the North Queensland Conservation Council, has taken legal action under new federal environmental legislation to try to prevent the slaughter of thousands of spectacled flying foxes by North Queensland fruit farmers. Here we present some information about the situation and a plea for your help in helping to stop the electrocution of flying foxes.

Spectacled flying foxes (Pteropus conspicillatus) are one of three flying fox species that occur in northeast Queenland. However unlike their close relatives, this species is largely restricted to high rainfall forests of the Wet Tropics. Here, the species is an important pollinator and seed dispersal agent of rainforest fruits, and an integral part of the ecology of the Wet Tropics.

Major habitat loss has impacted on the species, which tends to favour lowland forests, the occupation of most upland sites being historically seasonal, and usually limited to the summer months. In the Wet Tropics lowlands, over 80% of the original vegetation has been cleared. Sugar cane and residential expansion continues to reduce remaining forests each year.

Three years ago, concern over the apparent decline in numbers of Spectacled Flying Foxes in the Cairns area prompted members of the Cairns Branch of the Wildlife Preservation Society and the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service (QPWS) to undertake official counts of the species. This was done using repeated fly-out counts from all known colonies throughout the wet tropics.

An initial assessment in March 1998 revealed that 15 historically permanent camps with an estimated total population of 610 000 bats had disappeared over recent years, and size reductions were clearly evident at remaining camps. From the study, a maximum of 150 000 - 180 000 spectacled flying foxes were estimated to remain at historical camps, a population drop of approximately 78% from numbers estimated 15 years ago.

More recent counts in November 1999 and November 2000 have confirmed that a decline in the population has continued, with estimates of these colonies now less than 80,000. Based on this rapid decline in numbers, it has been recommended that the species be listed under Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 as a threatened species, and a submission has been drafted by the Australiasian Bat Society to have the species listed as "critically endangered" under the IUCN's list of endangered species

Causes for the loss of some camps are known. Some were deliberately destroyed, eg. Mena Creek where there is a plaque to that effect; in others the camp vegetation has been cleared, either deliberately or in the course of primary industry expansion.

A second cause of decline has been the paralysis tick (Ixodes holocyclus), which large numbers of flying foxes in the Atherton Tablelands have contracted when forced to feed in low-lying weeds and shrubs. However, neither of these factors can fully explain the rapid rate of decline of spectacled flying foxes in recent years. Culling by tropical fruit growers is the most likely cause of the decline (see below). The main methods of culling are shooting and lethal electric grids.

In November last year, the NQCC received a complaint that a lychee farmer north of Cardwell was using electric grids to kill thousands of flying foxes. Volunteers investigated the claim and found that over a period of a fortnight, at least 300-500 animals were being killed each night. This number did not include injured flying foxes which later died or orphaned juveniles which starved to death or were killed in some other way by the farmer. Based on these observations, it was estimated that this farmer alone had killed at least 20 000 spectacled flying foxes over an 8-week lychee season.

When NQCC reported their findings to QPWS, it was discovered that the farmer did not even have a permit. QPWS promised to investigate the farmer's alleged breach of the Nature Conservation Act (NCA), but instead of charging the farmer with illegal 'take' of protected wildlife, the investigating officer, Mike Pople, issued Mr Bosworth with a permit to cull some 500 more spectacled flying foxes over the remainder of the season. Note that Mr Bosworth had applied to kill 5500. No effort was made by QWPS to enforce the permit, and Mr Bosworth continued to operate all 6.4 km of his electric grids despite exceeding the permitted take in just 1-2 nights.

Following the refusal of QPWS to investigate the matter further, Carol Booth filed for an interim injunction in the Federal Court of Australia to have the killing stopped until the matter could be considered in a proper hearing of the case. The basis of the legal action was that the killing of large numbers of spectacled flying foxes was likely to have a significant impact on the world heritage values of the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area. The case was supported by two of Australia's most eminent flying fox experts, Less Hall and Greg Richards, along with Peter Valentine, an expert on the values of the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area.

The case was the first test of the new Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 to be heard in court. Unfortunately, Justice Spender, in what was a 'finely balanced decision', could not be convinced that Mr Bosworth would damage the values of the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area in the fourteen days left in the lychee season and that the potential financial loss to him outweighed the risk to world heritage values. However, he did not reject the claim that significant numbers of flying foxes had been killed, and ordered a main hearing into the matter which is to be held in July.

Following substantial media coverage and numerous complaints to the Executive Director of QPWS, Ian McPhail, and the minister for the environment, Rod Welford, the service has resolved to work with the fruit growing industry to try to find a solution that will "result in a win - win situation by conserving wildlife and at the same time minimise crop damage caused by wildlife". What this means for the fate of spectacled flying foxes in Queensland is still uncertain.

The problems brought to public attention by the case of Booth vs Bosworth barely scratch the surface of what is happening across North Queensland. Documents obtained from the QPWS under the Freedom of Information Act indicate that as many as 100 fruit growers in the region operate lethal grids. Based on demographic population modelling, biologist Allen McIlwee estimates that in excess of 20,000 spectacled flying foxes have been killed each year (over the past 15 years) - though the actual figure may have been as high as 100,000 in some years. This has caused the collapse of the species, resulting in a 65% reduction in the number coastal spectacled flying fox camps in the last 10 years.

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This "bat" story provides a glimpse of the wholesale slaughter of local populations of native wildlife under the cover of QPWS crop damage mitigation permits. These permits are issued under the Nature Conservation (Wildlife) Regulation Act 1994 - which is dedicated to protecting native wildlife. Under section 112, a restriction is set out that "The chief executive may grant a damage mitigation permit for protected wildlife only if the chief executive is satisfied - action under a permit will not detrimentally affect the survival in the wild of the wildlife; and the taking of wildlife is ecologically sustainable."

On the basis of concern, the NQCC is conducting and FOI on all DMPs issued in Queensland. The preliminary information is a staggering indictment of the QPWS and raises major questions about the health of Queenslands native wildlife.

Thousands of DMPs are issued each year. Many permits are issued indiscriminately with out investigation, assessment or onsite inspection. Permits are issued to kill and unbelivable array of native wildlife. A partial list includes:

· 3 species of lorikeets · 3 species of friarbirds · 2 species of cockatoos · galah · purple swamp hen · 5 species of cormorants · darter · koel · many species of honeyeater · noisy miners · figbird · brush turkey · 3 species of heron · little egret · 3 species of ducks · dusky moorhen · silvereye · ibis · magpies · magpie lark · magpie goose · black faced-cuckoo shrike · 2 species of doves · tern species · torresian crow · 4 species of flying fox · 5 species of rodents · possums · estuarine crocodiles · snakes · 4 species of macropods

The daunting aspect of this scandel is that the NQCC is facing and FOI of up to 40 000 pages. This request could cost between $10,000 - 20,000 in FOI fees. Analysis of the data will take months of dedicated work. However, having said this - we have an important opportunity to dramatically change the "kill the pest" mentality that pervades in the QPWS.

Please help us to stop the further killing of spectacled flying foxes and other wildlife. Financial support is needed for the legal action underway, as well as the acquisition and analysis of FOI documents. You can help by donating money to NQCC (PO Box 364, Townsville 4810; phone 4771 6226).

If you would like more information or to be kept up to date on what is happening - please call Allen on 07 47814171 or 07 47257185, or email me (sci-apm@jcu.edu.au)

The NQCC needs volunteers to help with the analysis of the FOI documents. If you can assist in this please contact the NQCC office.