The Story

The Royal Melbourne Botanic Gardens (MBG) is home to the most southerly camp of flying-foxes in the world. It is the only breeding colony of flying-foxes in Victoria, and is an important component of the States' fauna.

Flying foxes are migratory animals, and move around in accordance with food supply. The bats have occupied the Gardens since 1981, and until recently, had not been considered a serious threat to the survival of Heritage Listed trees.

The numbers of bats roosting in the MBG are usually between 2000 and 5000, with fluctuations for short periods of up to 8000. This increase in numbers occurs usually for about 2 months each year, and coincides with the flowering of local eucalypt blossoms. This year there has been an unusually high influx of visitors to the gardens - the total reaching some 20,000 bats. Scientists believed this is due to the poor flowering success of eucalypts on the NSW north coast (since October 2000), along with the widespread local flowering of the yellow box gum (an event that happens just once every 7 years). Now that the flowering season has finished, most bats are migrating back to NSW as winter approaches. Over the past month, some 10,000 bats have departed from the gardens of their own accord, and experts say that most of these individuals are unlikely to return to the gardens next year.

There is a concern among scientists however that increasing numbers of bats are ending up in urban areas. This is the result of ecosystem breakdown - caused by the destruction of critical wild food resources (nectar/ pollen/ fruit). Unlike most species of mammal, flying-foxes are mobile enough to be able to escape threatening processes such as habitat clearing, but as victims of this destruction - they need to find new homes. As more and more native forests are destroyed, higher numbers of flying-foxes may be expected to take up residence in urban refuges.

One might guess from this that flying-foxes are destined to become increasingly reliant on urban areas like the MBG. This however, this is not be true as the numbers of grey-head flying foxes in NSW, QLD and VIC are decreasing year by year. Fying-fox biologists believe there are less than half the number of grey-headed flying foxes in Australia now as there were ten years ago. Some say they remember seeing colonies of >200,000 animals in the 1980s, but now "large" colonies are considered to be just 10,000 to 20,000 bats.

The original excuse for culling flying-foxes in the Gardens was that the numbers of bats had to be reduced on order to save a few ageing, Heritage Listed trees in an area known as Fern Gully. Though the Gardens management made no attempt to validate how culling would prevent any long-term damage to trees (see article on Why culling will fail to solve the flying fox problem at Melbourne Botanic Gardens: by Leslie Hall, Greg Richards and Nicki Markus), it was reported to the public that culling 1000 bats would reduce the damage to acceptable levels. Through the media, sufficient public support was gained by the MBG to conduct the cull, in spite of very strong arguments by scientists that the plan would not succeed.

News of the plan to kill 1000 bats came at the same time Animals Australia issued a press release stating that some 8,000 bats in the gardens had recently flown north for winter (see Smart bats are moving north ahead of the guns, Animals Australia). Many more bats have left the gardens since this day, so one has to wonder in light of th mass exodus of bats, why is the MBG currently killing hundreds of bats each night (as reported by the Humane Society, 12th April, 2001).

The MGB management have been called upon by many organisations and individuals to explain why they have not abandon their plans in light of the bat exodus- but no explanations have been provided. One can only speculate from this that the Gardens management is intent only on eradicating ALL flying-foxes from the gardens, regardless of what threat they pose to trees. Such an outcome will only achieve the complete loss of the species form Victoria, and require a long-term culling program that could also wipe out much of the NSW population of animals (see article on On the effects of culling the flying foxes... by Len Martin and Allen Mcilwee).

Public perception and environmental conflicts

We believe that the Victorian Public has been misinformed about the flying-fox issue by the gardens management. A walk through the gardens, will reveal an almost obscene hatred for these animals, as displayed on public signs and notices. However, despite this, the great majority of visitors to the Gardens still hold a positive attitude towards the bats, especially among families and tourists. Mean while MBG continues to ignore the facts and recommendations made to them by the majority of Australia's leading bat biologists, and reject the possibility of all non-lethal alternatives to the problem.

We believe that the actions of MBG will set a precedent for anti-environmental groups that will have unthinkable repercussions for all native animals across Australia. In one sense, the issue we are being asked to decide upon, is whether it is acceptable for society to condone the killing of an endangered species. Here it is worth considering that unlike NSW and Queensland, the Victorian public is not familiar with flying foxes, and have therefore been an easy target for disinformation from the gardens management. It is for this reason also that the majority of the Victorian public are not aware of the broader anti-environmental issues surrounding the case.

We believe that public support for the culling, while it may reside in genuine sympathy for the gardens, is misinformed because it will clearly not solve the problem. The real question we should all be asking ourselves is - "is the complete loss of a native species worth a band-aid approach to temporarily saving a few trees?" We also wonder how the MBG will ever explain to the public why they were deliberately misinformed over the issue, why they ignored the recommendations of scientists, and why they also slaughtered many hundreds of flying foxes in a vain attempt to protect a hand full of trees.

The Victorian Governments involvement in the decision

Allied with the MBG from the beginning has been the Victorian Minister for the Environment and Conservation, Sheryl Garbutt, who in an unprecedented decision, rejected the recommendations of the states Scientific Advisory Committee that was established to investigate the status of grey-headed flying foxes in Victoria - under the Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1998.

Ms Garbutts explanation of why she rejected the recommendations of her Scientific Committee were that "as the grey-headed flying fox is a highly migratory species, with a distribution up the east coast of Australia, it is more prudent to examine its vulnerability from a national perspective, rather than just a Victorian one.... Also, the species is far more abundant throughout NSW and Queensland than in Victoria, so looking at the species soley in a Victorian context could misrepresent its true status" (Media release. 9th March).

In making this decision however, the Minister clearly refused to acknowledge that grey-headed flying foxes are considered vulnerable across their entire range, and in almost all areas, the species is undergoing a rapid decline. Importantly, the decision also undermines the Flora and Fauna guarantee legislation that was established to protect the biodiversity of the state. One has to wonder how Victorians feel now that no wildlife in their state is guaranteed the protection it derserves anymore?

Shocked by the unprecedented decision of Ms Garbutt, Democratic senator, Lyn Allison responded. In the senate, senator Allison urged the Environment Minister, senator Robert Hill, to use his power under the Environment Protection Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 to over turn Ms Garbutts decision - citing that grey-headed flying foxes are classified as threatened in both the Action Plan for Australian Bats, produced by the Natural Heritage Trust, and the Scientific Advisory Committee that was formed to investigate the status of the species in NSW (see press release, 3rd April).

The Federal minister for the Environment was called upon to issue an immediate injunction under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999, in order to stop the killing of flying foxes in the MBG until the Commonwealth could review the status of the species. However, this motion was blocked by both the labour and coalition parties.

Senator Allison also told the The Victorian Environment Minister that she "should be seeking an alternative site for the bat colony along the Yarra River" and that "the Minister should instruct the Director of the Melbourne Botanic Gardens to manage the gardens for both the benefit of the bats and existing botanic specimens."

We believe that the Victorian Governments refusal to accept the advice of scientists, and the Federal Governments unwillingness to intervene is reminiscent of the 1930's when extermination was acceptable as a management option when any animal got in the way of "progress". Unlike the State Government of Victoria, we strongly believe that species do not forfeit their right to exist, simply because an organisation (in thinking only of themselves) has decided to label the species a pest. It is time the Victorian Government and Federal Government acknowledge that ALL wildlife conflict issues in this country are created by humans, and begin accepting responsibility over the issue.

Please let's not be deceived

The MBG issue is not about saving a few trees in a public Garden, it is about the philosophy of life - the belief that all species (without exception), have the right to be given the protection they need. It is about stopping the senseless and inhumane slaughter of a species, whom sadly, the children of the future have no guarantee of ever knowing. But perhaps more importantly - the issue is about saving our own futures from a path of destruction. This philosophy is best described by Dr Robert Paddle in his book "The last Tasmanian tiger - the history and extinction of the thylacine", Cambridge University Press (2000), p.239.

"For we are all brothers to dragons and companions to owls, and whenever we lose sight of this in our personal, political and spiritual philosophies, we descend to the depths of self deceit and contempt for others, and we destroy the world as well as ourselves"