Solutions needed on bats across regional borders
Lockyer Valley Regional Council is calling on neighbouring councils like the Somerset region to join forces and help bring the growing bat problem under control.
On Wednesday, six out of the seven Lockyer Valley Councillors voted in favour of approaching neighbouring councils to join together in a common force to lobby the State Government hard for a solution to reduce the numbers of flying foxes roosting in plague proportions across the regions.
Lockyer Valley Mayor Steve Jones said the sad reality is that bats are now roosting and defecating in Brisbane's drinking water supply and the problem needs to be brought under control, and quickly.
Bats are an enormous problem in the Somerset area at the moment and the fact of the matter is that these animals, known to harbour deadly diseases such as Hendra and Lyssavirus, are defecating in the Brisbane River and local dams, the same dams that supply Brisbane's drinking water, he said.
For far too long, our hands and those of other councils have been tied due to over the top bureaucratic red tape, Cr Jones said.
The former Newman State Government purported to give councils more power to control bats but the reality was that the same ridiculous guidelines and protections were still in place, the move nothing more than lip service,
We did everything we could to remove the bat problem near a child care centre in Laidley and at an aged care facility in Gatton and while both projects to remove vegetation were successful, they are a short-term fix with more needing to be done,
It is estimated there are currently millions of bats within the Somerset area and they aren't alone. Bats are still roosting in the Lockyer Valley, Ipswich and Toowoomba areas and it will take a collaborative effort to get the upper hand but we need the State Government to get on board, he said.
The State Government needs to get serious about bats and get rid of the restrictive laws that are currently in place.
Lockyer Valley Regional Council moved a motion calling on the State Government to allow local councils to cull bats when they are in plague proportions, Mayor Jones said.
