Flying foxes dominated a fiery public meeting put on by Eurobodalla Shire Council at Batemans Bay Community Centre on Wednesday.
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Mayor Lindsay Brown copped the wrath of many of the hundreds of people who filled the hall to capacity, for a perceived lack of will to deal with the exploding flying fox population.
Perhaps appropriately, the bats in the neighbouring Water Garden could easily be heard and smelt at the meeting.
Mayor Brown talked about council being in the process of developing a dispersal plan, saying it could involve industrial noise broadcast to the bats for three hours a day, starting at 4am, and also the use of smoke.
“The Office of Environment and Heritage has told us there are 100,000 plus bats here, which is 20 per cent of the Australian population,” he said.
Of the Eurobodalla Shire Councilors, only Councilors Brown, Milton Leslight and Liz Innes attended, and Batemans Bay businessman Adam Pike drew a chorus of approval when he expressed his disappointment at the absence of the other councilors.
Lucas Gregory of Batehaven accused the mayor and council of spending money on research when what the community wanted was action.
“You stand there with that pretentious smile,” he said.
“Do you hear that noise out there? That’s the bats laughing at you.”
When compere Ian Campbell told the crowd that the bat questions had to stop and other issues raised, half of those gathered walked out.
Those gathered heard the concerns of people affected by constant blackouts caused by the bats, particularly in Malua Bay.
One resident said there had been bat-caused blackouts nine of the past 12 nights, sometimes three times a night.