Residents in a Queensland town say children are unable to play in their own backyards because of a flying fox infestation.
More than 2,500 flying foxes are roosting in trees in Collinsville, creating a noisy, smelly mess.
"My granddaughter can't play in her yard because they've got a tree that's fully loaded with them," Bec Thomas said.
"She got a trampoline for Christmas and she can't play in the backyard on it.
"She's locked in, more or less.
"She can't run around the yard with her dog and play and have fun like a normal two-year-old because of the bats."
Surveys done by the Whitsunday Regional council show a few thousand flying foxes arrived in the town in March 2021, but that number ballooned to 26,000 later that year.
Various techniques to get them to move on have been tried, but Natural Resource Manager with the Whitsunday Regional Council Scott Hardy says success has been limited.
"At the moment they are shuffling between Pelican Park and people's backyards," he said.
"There's a small population of black flying foxes that for some reason like Collinsville, like the food and other resources in the town, and they don't really want to budge.
"We've tried the wavy men, coordinated smoking and noise, with the smoking in the last fortnight reducing the population by 25 per cent."
A messy situation
Christine Pennay says the bats have forced her to adopt new habits, including waking up before dawn in an attempt to reclaim her yard.
"I've got a 44-gallon drum in my yard which I use to smoke the tree – a tall Norfolk pine – and I have to set an alarm to get up at 4am to try and move them," she said.
"I'm a bit of a night owl, so I have to reset my body clock … unfortunately that's all you can do to try and annoy them.
"Last year they were here for six weeks, and they're noisy and my yard's covered in bat crap."
She said she had worked with council on the coordinated smoking as part of the flying fox management plan.
Ms Pennay and Ms Thomas said frustration was growing in the community.
"I'm really annoyed and I know I'm not the only one," Ms Pennay said.
"There's a young couple with a young baby who moved into the house across from me and they've got massive gum trees that are covered in bats."
Acting quickly
The council has adopted a new management plan that includes more rapid responses when small numbers of animals are spotted flying into the town.
"If we have an early intervention program to make it uncomfortable for them, hopefully they won't make a permanent roost and go somewhere else."
An idea that was flagged during a recent meeting was to try and move the animals to Pelican Park and move the playground equipment to another area.
Ms Thomas was in favour of the idea.
"It's not a frequently played-with park and there are lots of other options in Collinsville for playground equipment these days," she said.
"I know it's a horrible thing to say, but the park is public property and not someone's front yard."
