MAP: Charters Towers 4820
Residents of a north Queensland town are frustrated action was not taken sooner to manage a large colony of flying foxes that have roosted in the community.
Charters Towers Regional Council estimates there are about 200,000 bats in the town, numbers it has called "plague proportions".
"This is something nobody in this community has seen in living memory. It's way more than we've ever seen before," Mayor Liz Schmidt said.
The Lissner and Centenary Parks were closed on Wednesday, followed by the Kennedy Regiment Memorial Pool.
In notices to the public, the council said the close proximity of the roosts could pose an adverse risk to the public.
"We've actually found bat faeces in the pool and there are dead bats in and around, so they've now moved into the trees around the pool because the Lissner Park trees are full," Cr Schmidt said.
Locals say they are fed up with bats moving into suburban areas, and want to see them moved on.
PHOTO: Charters Towers resident Judy Pattel lives opposite a bat roost at Lissner Park. (ABC News: Rhea Abraham)
Judy Pattel lives across from Lissner Park, a heritage-listed site and one of the roosts.
She cares for a daughter who is quadriplegic, and said she feared for her wellbeing.
"It's a daily, constant fear with my daughter who's a quadriplegic in a wheelchair, because if she gets one of those bites she will be gone. There'll be no saving her," she said.
Ms Pattel has considered moving but said no one would buy a house so close to a roost.
"It's one of those things. Due to no fault of your own, you've lost all your equity and can't sell your house," Ms Pattel said.
Bats best left alone, ecologist says
Flying fox ecologist Jon Luly said communities were better off leaving bat colonies alone because they were important pollinators.
He said the bats were converging on Charters Towers due to the abundance of flowering eucalypts in the region.
He warned that dispersing the flying foxes could cause colonies to fragment and send the animals into other suburban areas.
"Realistically speaking there's not much of a risk to health as opposed to feeling that it is dangerous," Dr Luly said.
He said horses needed to be vaccinated against the Hendra virus because they acted as "amplifying hosts" that brewed up the virus after contracting it from bats.
Dr Luly said residents in suburbs that became roosts should allow bats to move along in their own time, which could be up to a matter of days or weeks.
"Don't chase them around, because the more chasing around, the more stressed they'll get," he said.
"The science says that there are a couple of viruses that are of potential concern.
"The Hendra virus is one that people mention a lot, but in reality it's a problem for horses rather than bats.
"The lyssavirus is the second virus and that one is really only contracted if you are bitten or scratched by a bat that happens to be sick with that virus.
"So 99 per cent of scratches and bites are not the problem. The small number of bats that have lyssavirus are the potential concern."
Current scientific data presents no evidence of bat-to-human spreading of the Hendra virus.
Management options being considered
The Department of Environment and Heritage Protection said it was working closely with the Charters Towers Regional Council to manage the flying foxes.
The council has an online survey to assess community expectations about flying fox management.
The management options being considered include relocating the flying foxes to a new camp, removing or replacing trees, and using netting and constructing barriers to reduce noise.
Snow Hearne has lived in Charters Towers for more than seven years and said action should have been taken sooner.
"This shouldn't have been allowed to happen," she said.
"As for our children growing up in Charters Towers, they can't even access their own backyard to play safely because of the bat faeces."
Ms Pattel said she would be willing to pay as long as a long-term solution could be found.
"They've got to get a very good plan in place and ensure it works before they spend any money on actually doing it.
"They've already spent lots of money on helicopters and smoke things that haven't worked, so they need to come up with something that will work."
The council will lobby state and federal governments to find a long-term solution for residents.
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