The Importance of Flying-Foxes
Education to help protect the threatened grey-headed flying-foxes.
Capacity building - LEP23-014-LLC02-5
The issue
Grey-headed flying-foxes are large, native bats that live along Australia’s south-east coast. They are a nomadic species which visit Eurobodalla seasonally, and play an important role in keeping our forests healthy by spreading pollen and seeds. During the day, they roost in "camps", and at night they fly out to find fruit, nectar and pollen to eat from native species including eucalyptus, melaleuca and banksia. When food availability is low, they can begin to rely on the fruit and flowers in people's backyards. This can create a human-wildlife conflict, as the flying-foxes can be noisy, smelly and leave droppings. When in residential/rural areas, the flying-foxes are also at risk of electrocution on powerlines, attacks by pets, and entanglement in fruit netting and barbed wire fencing.
The solution
Eurobodalla Landcare partnered with Eurobodalla Shire Council (ESC) and Wildlife Information, Rescue and Education Service (WIRES) in April to gather the community and celebrate International Bat Appreciation Day. Education on the importance of flying-foxes demonstrated why we need them to pollinate and disperse seed in our forests - they can fly up to 70km in one night (which is a huge impact area!). It also showed how everyone can keep bats safe by switching to wildlife friendly fruit netting (holes smaller than 5mmx5mm), removing unnecessary barbed wire, and when to call WIRES for animal rescue or advice. The event was concluded by watching the spectacular fly-out of the flying-foxes from their camp at Riverside Park.
The impact
The event not only aimed to engage adults, but also to educate children on the importance of grey-headed flying-foxes. To engage kids, there were many visual displays including equipment used by WIRES when they have bats in care, a taxidermy flying-fox, and an age-appropriate educational video, as well as bat mask making, colouring-in and native animal face painting. A solar-powered food trailer run by Repurposing for Resilience was also present to help create a positive, community feel. Overall, the event was a great success that engaged community members who don't ordinarily attend Landcare events. One child at the end even quoted "flying-foxes are now the same as unicorns on my favourite scale"!
Learnings
This was a wonderful community event which engaged up to 50 people. The only oversight was planning for wet weather which looked imminent, however, after a last minute back-up plan the weather played nice!
For more information on flying-foxes in Eurobodalla, go to ESC's website: Flying-foxes in Eurobodalla | Eurobodalla Council
Key facts
- Grey-headed flying-foxes are a nomadic species which travel anywhere along the coast from Bundaberg QLD, to Port Augusta SA, to follow the flowering of their favourite plant species.
- Flying-foxes are known as our "forest gardeners" - without them pollinating and dispersing seeds, our forests would not survive.
- International Bat Appreciation Day was a great opportunity to gather and educate the community on the importance of flying-foxes.