This costs the government approximately $80,000 per annum. Choosing dialysis at home gives the patient back their own life and rhythm, allows them to work and saves the taxpayer tens of thousands of dollars. 

My partner chooses to have this life-sustaining treatment at home, a brave move in Batemans Bay. The dialysis machine requires continuous electricity supply overnight. The bats overrunning Batemans Bay are disrupting the supply in entire areas. They are in plague proportions and the cause of a ream of complaints from many.

For my partner, once the electricity supply stops, so does the dialysis machine and his treatment. This has happened on several occasions in the past few weeks.  When dialysis is interrupted, blood toxins cannot be removed and can build up, leading to a number of life-threatening conditions.

Whilst everyone is contemplating what would be best for the bats, my partner is sliding into a condition that is anything but the best.  If the BAT situation is not addressed, who will be held accountable for placing his life in jeopardy?

Which life is of more value?

The Eurobodalla Shire Council is in a difficult position in relation to the bat/flying fox problem.

The bats are cute creatures and, like all others, have some right to be left in peace.

However it is beyond doubt that they are now causing serious problems to many residents within a few kilometres of their home-base in the wetlands. I live at Surfside and have the unpleasant task of cleaning their faeces off my deck and driveway regularly. Some people have considered dispersal a solution. Dispersing them from the wetlands will simply move the problem elsewhere and be a waste of time and money. 

Whilst culling is an unpleasant thought, it is a common solution around Australia (and the world), involving creatures causing an unreasonable amount of environmental harm to the environment or which have populations which are unsustainable, such as, kangaroos, brumbies, buffalo, camels, Indian mynahs, feral cats, possums, crocodiles, sharks, pigeons, rats and mice.

It is time this option was seriously investigated.

The council claims any attempt to rid the Bay of this bat population explosion, or at least quell it, would cost $500, 000-to-$1 million.  Apparently, this is a sum the council is unable or unwilling to expend. Yet the council boasts of the $5 million squandered on removing one bend in the Kings Highway; of the hundreds of thousands of dollars wasted on the mutilation and mulching of the beautiful spotted gums that line our main roads and the tens of thousands of dollars on so-called beautification projects, such as the pointless viewing platform being installed at Tuross Head, where perfectly good logs once provided comfortable and rustic seating.  These projects are designed to attract the tourist dollar, council’s greed for which is never sated. 

If bats were circling the holiday rentals, the cafes and the boat ramps, shrieking and dropping their excrement day and night, I’m pretty sure council would throw every cent into sorting the problem.

The Durras Community Association does not support forced dispersal of flying foxes.

It is highly likely this will move the problem to another area and we are concerned this could include South Durras. As well as the noise and inconvenience of stains on washing and cars etc, this is potentially also a major public health risk for our village. 

This community has no town water and relies on rainwater tanks. A major increase in bats roosting is likely to contaminate our water supplies, from faeces on rooves washing into tanks. This could make the water undrinkable and cause illness.

The Eurobodalla Shire Council and NSW Government should note - any dispersal or other action which results in pollution of water or causes local people to get sick is likely to lead to legal action.

As in other years, it is likely the bats will leave the Eurobodalla once the colder weather arrives and the flowering of spotted gum trees ends. We have advised the Durras community that Cocos palms are highly attractive to the bats (which feed on fruit and foliage) and residents should consider removing them. As environmental weeds, no approval is required. Other Eurobodalla residents might also consider this.

The PETA condoms (Bay Post/Moruya Examiner, April 20) won't be necessary because hunters are discriminating about whom they mate with. The PETA supporters might be better off keeping them for themselves.

Coral Anderson’s letter (Bay Post, April 22) said the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party sponsored Huntfest. A HuntFest spokesman said this was incorrect and the events sponsors were SSAA NSW and SSAA (NSW) Sydney Branch.