Mechanical Symphony to Scare off Opera House's 22,000 Unwanted Neighbors

Often found roosting together, hanging upside down by one foot from outstretched tree branches, the furry, gray-headed flying foxes are a popular attraction at Sydney’s Royal Botanic Garden.

But soon the endangered species -- also known as fruit bats -- will no longer be able to call the Opera House’s 30-hectare back garden home.

Despite a last-ditch legal bid from animal welfare groups to allow the flying foxes to roost in peace, the Federal Court recently upheld the federal government’s approval for the Royal Botanic Gardens & Domain Trust to begin evicting the bats.

In May, the flying foxes will be blasted with the recorded sounds of chainsaws and tractors for 10 minutes every hour. The goal: to disrupt the bats' sleep and force them to move away from their harbor-side nests to alternative daytime roosts.

The Trust argues the colony of some 22,000 flying foxes is destroying historic trees and plants. So far, it says, they have killed 30 palms and 28 mature trees –- including a rare, 153-year-old Kauri Pine -- and damaged 300 more.

If the flying foxes are not relocated, it warns, more heritage trees and palms would be threatened and the area may be closed down for health and safety reasons.

The court's approval comes with conditions: the operation must be supervised by an independent group of observers, and it can only be carried out until July to avoid interrupting the bats' mating season.

“The relocation is planned to be a win-win for the flying foxes and the Royal Botanic Garden,” says the Trust’s executive director, Dr. Brett Summerell.

Dr. Summerell insists the flying foxes will relocate to familiar areas away from homes –- including one existing camp at Ku-ring-gai Flying-fox Reserve. Residents and farmers will not be affected, he says.

“We will be conducting extensive monitoring of the flying foxes' movements and have procedures in place in an effort to prevent them from settling in unacceptable locations,” Dr. Summerell says. “We’re conducting the most extensive scientific research study ever on this threatened species, contributing to conservation work to protect them.”

Read more: Opera House's bats get moved along | CNNGo.com http://www.cnngo.com/sydney/visit/sydney-opera-houses-neighbours-22000-bats-be-evicted-962070#ixzz1KlzIZK90