Throughout their world distribution, fruit bats (Chiroptera: Pteropodidae) play an extremely
important role in forest ecology through seed dispersal and pollination. However, the
recognition of their role in maintaining forest ecological diversity has been largely
overshadowed by the fact that fruit bats are known to cause damage to a wide variety of
cultivated fruits and, as a result, significant effort is undertaken to control fruit bat numbers
in areas where crop damage frequently occurs.
In Australia, fruit bats of the genus Pteropus (or flying foxes) are well known for their role
in destroying valuable fruit crops, particularly along the east coast from Cairns to Sydney.
Historical evidence suggests that flying foxes have been culled as an orchard pest in large
numbers for the past 80 years. Uncontrolled culling both on-farm and in roosts coupled
with extensive habitat destruction in the past century, has resulted in noticeable declines
both in flying fox distribution and local population numbers.
In New South Wales, flying foxes have been 'protected' under the National Parks and
Wildlife Act (1974) since 1986. From that time, fruitgrowers have been required to obtain
a licence (referred to as an occupier's licence) from the National Parks and Wildlife Service
(NPWS) to cull flying foxes causing damage to fruit crops. However, despite the
'protected' status of the species, flying foxes continue to be culled in large numbers as an
orchard pest.
An examination of the management of flying foxes in NSW, has shown that, between
1986-1992, fifteen NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service Districts issued a combined
total of 616 occupier's licences to shoot flying foxes with an total allocation of over
240,000 animals. In addition, most flying foxes are culled when the female is carrying her
young under wing or when the young remain in the camp but continue to be dependent on
her return for survival. Further evidence on the extent of culling includes a widely
distributed fruitgrower survey with responses indicating that as few as 50% of the
fruitgrowers shooting flying foxes in NSW obtain the required licence from the National
Parks and Wildlife Service.
While the NPWS has undertaken research into the role of flying foxes in seed dispersal and
pollination, management effort largely continues to focus on resolving conflicts between
fruitgrowers and flying foxes primarily by issuing culling permits to fruitgrowers. At
present, there is no NPWS policy on the management of flying foxes in NSW to guide the
administration of the permit system. As a result, the process of issuing permits for flying
foxes is largely inconsistent between NPWS Districts.
The absence of comprehensive goals and objectives for the management of flying foxes has
resulted in the current situation where large numbers of flying foxes are being culled both
legally and illegally in the absence of any data on the impacts of unknown culling levels on
local flying fox populations.
The NPWS has a statutory obligation to manage flying foxes consistent with the 'protected'
status of the species in NSW and several well known principles of wildlife management.
However, current management of flying foxes in indicates that the Service may be in
violation of the requirement to 'protect' and 'conserve' flying foxes as required under the
National Parks and Wildlife Act (1974).
This study recommends that licences issued to fruitgrowers to cull flying foxes be
discontinued immediately and that adequate enforcement be engaged to reduce illegal
shooting. This action should continue until such time that research on flying fox
populations is able to demonstrate that the culling of flying foxes will not lead populations
into decline. Furthermore, management effort should focus on the development of
alternative strategies to reduce crop damage by flying foxes and provide incentives for
growers to utilize existing control strategies such as netting.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/219527 |
| Date | January 1994 |
| Creators | Wahl, Douglas E., n/a |
| Publisher | University of Canberra. Resource, Environmental & Heritage Sciences |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | ), Copyright Douglas E. Wahl |
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