Letter of concern

by Jennifer Holmes, University of Tenesee, U.S.A.

Dear Senator Allison,

I am a graduate student from the University of Tennessee and have been in Australia since early January studying the Grey-headed flying foxes in the Sydney Royal Botanic Gardens. I think it would be impossible to be in Australia for this long, working with bats, and not become aware of the political issues surrounding the status of this species. I admit that I am strongly biased in favor of these wonderful animals - I came all the way from America (mostly at my own expense) just to study them.

Regardless of my personal opinion, however, as a scientist it is painfully obvious to me that these bats need protection, and I am appalled at the recent decision by the Minister of the Environment in Victoria not to follow the recommendation of her Scientific Advisory Committee and award the threatened status to the bats. I am even more appalled that the administration of the Melbourne Royal Botanic Gardens has wasted no time in deciding to kill the bats roosting there. Ms. Garbutt's decision not to award threatened status due to the fact that the bats are migratory is ludicrous - the fact that they are migratory means that as soon as the bats in the Melbourne Gardens are dead and gone, it is almost guaranteed that more bats will migrate to that area in search of good habitat and will face the same fate as the previous bats, forming an endless black hole of bat deaths. The fact that nearly 40% of the bats recently migrated elsewhere is proof positive that these bats are highly mobile animals. Killing them will not solve any problems. Those who want to kill the bats are like frustrated children who simply want to lash out in anger, even though it will do more harm than good in the long run. Kicking a wall in frustration often ends up in a broken toe - only this time it will be the Australian environment that will be "broken." And the fact that nearly 8000 of the bats have left means that the Gardens has even less of an excuse to cull any bats at all. Any culling now is obviously malicious "revenge" against an innocent wild animal that is simply doing as nature intended. If Australians would stop clearing away the bats' habitat, the bats would be quite happy to roost elsewhere.

I find it hard to understand why these bats have not been awarded federal protection and not been put on the Threatened Species List. Almost every bat biologist in Australia and even abroad agrees that these bats need better protection. It seems that only three scientists in Australia disagree that more protection is needed and, suspiciously, two of them are the very biologists hired by the Melbourne Gardens to cull the bats and the other is a former student. And even these scientists agree that culling the bats will not solve the problem. As far as I can see, not a single scientist in all of Australia supports this effort or thinks it will work, yet it goes forward anyway. It is senseless killing.

I also find it hard to understand why the Melbourne Gardens administration is so intent on exterminating the bats rather than attempting to find a way to manage them. In the Sydney Gardens, the bats are a big tourist draw. I have been in the Sydney Gardens almost every day for several hours each day since early January, and I have a lot of opportunity to observe visitors' reactions to the bats as well as talk to them about the bats. While I do occasionally hear negative comments, these usually come from elderly Aussies who still carry old prejudices. A vast majority of the people I overhear or interact with - both Australians and foreign visitors - are fascinated and amazed by the bats. They take lots of pictures and walk around craning their necks to get a good view. Foreigners are especially interested in them since many of these tourists are from America and Europe where such large bats roosting in trees do not exist on those continents. Having the bats in the Gardens is a fantastic opportunity for both Australians and tourists to observe a truly amazing animal.

Although I have not personally visited the Melbourne Gardens to observe the bat colony there (I plan to do so in April), I have heard that the bats there are not well managed. Apparently there is no attempt to clean feces off footpaths or understory plants. And I have heard that the Melbourne Gardens Staff actively talk down the bats in a negative manner to visitors and have even gone so far as to offer free, pre-printed, pre-paid post cards to send to the Victorian Minister of the Environment in support of culling the bats. The Melbourne Gardens administration has undertaken a very organized campaign not only to get rid of the bats, but also to create public support for culling.

It is no wonder that "4 out of 5" Victorians are in favor of culling the bats - they have been hearing only negative things about the bats! They obviously have very little understanding of and/or appreciation for the ecological and environmental significance of these animals. Any decision on whether or not to cull a species should not be based on the personal opinions of uninformed people, but rather on the scientific expertise of bat biologists, which are almost unanimously against any culling of these bats. The Melbourne Gardens administration does not seem to understand (or care) that the ecological damage of killing bats will be far greater than the damage done by bats to their precious trees.

At any rate, it is too bad that the Melbourne Gardens administration has decided to take such an adverse stand against the bats. The Sydney Gardens management, while not overly pleased by the damage caused to plants by the bats, have very intelligently recognized that the best way to handle the problems caused by the bats is through better management, not outright destruction. I have spoken with several Sydney Gardens Staff, and it seems the administration of those gardens realizes that culling bats would go against the very idea they have set out to demonstrate by establishing the gardens: conservation of the environment. Like it or not, flying foxes are a natural part of the Australian environment. They are vital to a healthy Australian ecosystem. The more habitat that is lost due to clearing of land, the more common it will be to find bats taking refuge in urban areas. If the bats lose their wild habitats and then are culled every time they flee to urban areas, what is left for them? Extinction. No one in America believed the passenger pigeon would go extinct - there were millions of them! But they did. Please don't let this spectacular species go extinct. Please help them get federal protection and place them on the Threatened Species List. And please, please do not allow the Melbourne Botanic Gardens to cull any bats. The people of Australia should be grateful- and perhaps those who are not grateful now will be someday - for the role you are taking in protecting such an important native species that is vital to a healthy Australian ecosystem.

Thank you very much for your time and effort.

Sincerely,

Jenny Holmes