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Residents neighbouring the Kooloonbung Creek Nature Reserve say they feel under siege from flying foxes.
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The residents have maintained an historic stance against the flying fox maternity camp, saying that council and councillors think more of the flying foxes than they do about the them.
A group of residents have continually raised health concerns and how they are forced to alter their lifestyles because of the stink of the flying foxes.
About 15 residents held an impromptu meeting to discuss their concerns on Monday.
“You can’t open your windows, the noise is deafening and you are spending most of the next day cleaning up flying fox droppings from your verandahs,” resident Colin Booth said.
“The washing is splattered with droppings too … it is horrendous.”
He said the noise from the flying foxes is worst from around 3.30am.
“I think council is totalling ignoring us. How about putting people first. They seem to be taking a head in the sand attitude.
“You can’t forget that the flying foxes weren’t here in the first place. They were ‘smoked out’ of Sea Acres in the mid to late 1980s. These mongrel things are endangering our health.”
Another resident, Nigel Boxall conceded that the previous three weeks had seen a downturn in noise but added that the three weeks prior to that had been ‘really bad’.
“There is at least three or four times more bats than ever before. There are thousands of them in the trees. They are roosting through the day. The smell is terrible.
“The trouble is that the trees blossomed twice this year which is unusual, so they had plenty of feed.”
The residents said their anger was raised further when Port Macquarie-Hastings Council ‘had the audacity’ to put up a sign requesting boardwalk users to keep quiet.
In 2016 council wrote to residents outlining how they plan to manage the flying fox population.
“Council’s position for the insitu managemewnt of the Kooloonbung Creek flying fox population rather than relocation or dispersal was confirmed in 2013,” Mayor Peter Besseling wrote at the time.
“This decision was based on, a council resolution and the feasibility studies and research contained within the report; NSW Flying Fox Management Policy – which does not recommend dispersal of flying fox camps; and, recognition of the Kooloonbung Creek Nature Park as a maternity camp under the CSIRO National Flying Fox Monitoring Program. These sites under NSW policy are a priority for conservation.”