WORKERS with chainsaws and a cherry picker are removing 12 per cent of the vegetation in a Kareela reserve that is home to an estimated 18,000 grey-headed flying foxes.
A 20-metre wide buffer zone is being created between the camp and adjoining homes, schools and other buildings.
Sutherland Shire Council wanted to carry out more extensive clearing, involving the removal of 60 percent of the roosting habitat and making a 30-metre buffer. However, the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage, which needed to approve the work, scaled back the operation.
The council said if this work and other measures did not provide ‘‘a satisfactory outcome,’’ it would seek to disperse the camp next year.
Mayor Steve Simpson said $125,000 was set aside for the clearing of land east of homes in Kannan and Mikarie places, Kirrawee, and along the southern boundary of Sylvanvale, Mikarie Child Care Centre, ASPECT and Bates Drive Public School.
‘‘We hope this will go some way to mitigate the impact,’’ he said.
Cr Simpson said the work was being done in the evening after flying foxes had left the camp for the night.
A flying fox expert was supervising and liaising with property owners and the Wildlife Information Rescue and Education Service (WIRES).
‘‘It’s vital that this clearing is finalised by the end of August when a larger number of flying foxes begin to populate the camp,’’ he said.
Cr Simpson said the council adopted a three-step management plan in May. Step one, which was under way, included developing safety protocols with residents and teachers, and education programs with organisations and schools in the area.
Cr Simpson said a $30,000 grant from the Office of Environment and Heritage was being used to install ‘‘bat safe’’ netting or barriers over school outdoor play areas within 50 metres of the camp.
He said step two was the buffer-zone clearing and step three was dispersal.
Step three, which could involve clearing the entire reserve, would only be approved by the state government if other options failed to reduce problems caused by the flying foxes on the local community.
Fed up neighbours just want relief from smell and noise
WENDY Gettens, who has lived next to the reserve for 50 years, just wants to see ‘‘the bats gone’’.
‘‘People need to live here to know what it’s like,’’ she said.
‘‘It used to be lovely bush but the bats have killed everything.
‘‘All the gum trees and even the lantana and privet are dead because the droppings poison them.
‘‘The smell is pretty horrendous and you have to close the windows and doors.
‘‘I have an aluminium roof and all you hear is ‘plop, plop, plop’.
‘‘Because the bats have killed the bush, the possums come into my yard and destroy everything.’’
Next door neighbour Antoinette Pannikote said ‘‘the noise and smell is terrible’’.
‘‘Their droppings are in and around the pool and all over the pavement and our cars,’’ she said.
‘‘I believe the bats have a right to be protected, but this is a suburban area.
‘‘The environment department orders they be protected, so I think the government should pay the cost, not the council.’’
See online comments after the last Leader report about plans to disperse the colony.
Do you support the council’s three-step plan to disperse the flying fox colony?