Update: 1st May 2011

Here’s an update on a few of the ongoing issues that are affecting flying-foxes in NSW. It’s been a pretty grim few months and there’s not much good news.

Shooting of flying-foxes for crop protection

NSW is the only state that still allows flying-foxes to be shot as a method of crop protection. It’s a practice that an independent panel, commissioned by the NSW Labor government, found to be “unacceptable legally and ethically” because of the duration and extent of suffering caused to both the animals that are shot (many of which will not die immediately) and young flying foxes that are orphaned by the loss of their mother and will subsequently die of dehydration or starvation (a fact acknowledged by the NSW government department responsible for the issuing of licenses to shoot flying-foxes). 

Prior to the March NSW state elections, both Liberal and Labor parties committed $5m+ of support to orchardists in the Sydney and Central Coast regions of NSW towards the installation of full exclusion netting which offers far better protection against flying-foxes (and birds, and hail) than shooting can. This was the first glimmer of hope that perhaps we might actually see a reduction in the rate of shooting, and the cruelty associated with it. 

But post-election, things took a significant turn for the worse...... 

NSW Politics Part 1

In the lead up to the NSW state elections, the Liberals Environment Spokesperson, Catherine Cusack, had demonstrated a strong degree of support on the matter of shooting and there was some hope amongst conservation groups that she could bring some real passion to the Environment portfolio should the Liberals, as expected, be elected.

So it came as quite a blow when Cusack was omitted from the new cabinet and the Environment portfolio was handed to Robyn Parker, a junior minister with no apparent environment experience. 

Worse was to come. The NSW Dept of Environment, Climate Change and Water (DECCW) was disbanded and its functions transferred into the Department of Premier and Cabinet. NSW Premier O’Farrell claimed that this demonstrated an elevation in the status of environmental issues within his cabinet but few conservationists believe this and instead see it as a clear sign that the O’Farrell government has little commitment towards positive environmental outcomes. DECCW is now known as the Office of Environment and Heritage (OEH) and the former director of DECCW is now the head of OEH. This is clearly a demotion even though effectively she still holds the same job. And the Minister of Environment, Robyn Parker, seems to be little more than a figurehead as the OEH departmental structure reports not to her but to Barry O’Farrell. 

NSW Politics Part 2

Within weeks of the election, the new Minister for Primary Industries, Katrina Hodgkinson was describing flying-foxes as pests and vermin. This was in response to calls from farmers in the NSW Central-West region for the new government to make it easier for farmers to acquire licenses allowing them to shoot flying-foxes. 

NSW Farmers appear to have taken full advantage of Hodgkinson’s inexperience in the ministry and, in an apparent attempt to appease the increasingly strident (and unverifiable) claims of damage created by flying-foxes, her Department issued a press release indicating that she would pursue having the grey-headed flying-fox removed from the threatened species list. It would appear that her expectation was that this would make it easier to allow the farmers to shoot larger numbers of flying-foxes whilst ignoring the reality that the species is in decline and increasing the rate of shooting would inevitably hasten that decline. Hodgkinson’s media release on the issue contains some significant errors which suggests that she was either poorly briefed or was more focused on appeasing NSW Farmers than she was on getting her facts right. 

It’s worth noting that threatened species listings don’t even fall within Hodgkinson’s remit. They fall within Robyn Parker’s Environment portfolio and to the department now known as OEH that reports in to Barry O’Farrell.  In a further sign that Primary Industries interests have greater precedence than environmental concerns, neither Barry O’Farrell nor Robyn Parker made a single public statement on the matter, even with respect to those aspects of it that fall within their responsibilities and not Katrina Hodgkinson’s.

After the initial flurry of media, Hodgkinson has been silent in the last couple of weeks and it’s not at all clear what this means. Hopefully she’s now been adequately briefed on the issue and understands that her initial comments were poorly considered and that she needs to be more wary of being misled by vocal minorities in NSW Farmers. But of course, it’s entirely possible that behind the scenes, she’s pursuing the environmentally destructive policies that she’s already announced. In an attempt to get some clarity, peak welfare and conservation groups are urgently seeking meetings with Environment Minister Parker but have yet to have had any success in that regards. 

Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney dispersal

The project to evict grey-headed flying-foxes from Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney is now entering a very complex phase. The period from 1st May to the end of July marks the only portion of the year when the Botanic Gardens Trust can actively attempt to remove the bats from the Gardens because it is acknowledged by experts as the time of year when any action against the bats will have the least impact on their breeding cycle. And it’s important to be aware that this does not equate to NO impact, it just represents the LEAST impact. 

BGT appear to believe that 3 months gives them plenty of time to complete the project. In fact they claim that the project should achieve its goals within 2 to 4 weeks of the commencement of the dispersal. These claims are exceptionally optimistic and it's hard to understand what grounds they have for making such bold predictions. 

A cursory review of previous dispersals (including the one in Melbourne in 2003/04 that took six months to move the animals and which BGT claim, somewhat disingenuously, to be a success and a precedent for the Sydney action) indicates that three months is not, in fact, a vast window of opportunity. Rather, it is a period which is very likely to be insufficient for the project to achieve its stated objectives of removing the bats from the Gardens and (more importantly) moving them to alternate and acceptable habitat. It’s finding them a new and suitable roost site, not evicting them from the Gardens, that’s likely to take time. 

It would seem reasonable to suggest that the BGT would want to get the dispersal underway as soon as possible but all the signs are that BGT are some weeks away from being able to actually start the dispersal.  

Why is this? It's impossible to be 100% certain because BGT are playing their cards close to their chests but it seems likely that the delay is related to the "conditions of approval".

Both state and federal government approvals place a number of complex conditions on the project and it would appear that the BGT still has a lot of work to do to before they can claim to have met the conditions of approval and start the actual dispersal.

One of the most complex series of conditions relates to the use of radio tracking collars. We'll go into this issue a bit more in future but the bottom line is that fitting radio collars to a large number of bats is a very complex, expensive and time consuming process. It was difficulties with this aspect of the program that caused BGT to postpone the dispersal project in 2010. 

BGT appear to be having just as many problems this year and we believe that they will, if they haven’t already, apply to the federal government for a variation of the conditions of approval so as to make it easier for them to proceed with the project. Conservation groups have already voiced, to the federal Minister of Environment Tony Burke, their opposition to any variation of conditions that would allow the BGT to break their previous commitments.  Inexplicably, his department allowed a variation of conditions, also relating to radio collars, last year which compromised the objectives of the scientific program and conservation groups are keen to not see the conditions be weakened further by more variations. 

As a side issue to this, a grey-headed flying-fox with severe, life threatening throat injuries recently came into care with a Sydney wildlife care organisation., The injuries were caused by the animal losing weight after a BGT radio tracking collar was fitted around its neck. The weight loss allowed the collar to move around and chafe so badly that the animal’s jawbone was exposed. 

Dr Tim Entwisle, who until very recently has overseen the dispersal project in his position of Executive Director of the Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust has now moved overseas to take on a role at Kew Gardens in the UK. His replacement is Professor David Mabberley who will take on the role in August. Prof Mabberley appears to have broader experience in the field of biodiversity than Dr Entwisle so it will be interesting to see how he responds to the issue of the flying-foxes. 

Other Issues

A large number of bats in Ku-Ring-Gai flying-fox reserve colony (in the lower north shore Sydney suburb of Gordon) have apparently moved to a new location within the reserve that is increasing the level of conflict with some residents. Even in isolation, this is a concern but if many of the bats evicted from RBG relocate to the Gordon camp (as predicted by BGT), then the conflict could become a real problem. 

A small colony of grey-headed flying-foxes in the Sydney northern-beaches suburb of Avalon is under threat as Pittwater Council intend to trim back vegetation in the camp to an extent that it is unlikely to sustain even a small sized camp. The trimming is in response to the calls by a number of residents who find the bats to be unwanted neighbours. The action will almost certainly be sanctioned by the NSW Office of Environment & Heritage. The Federal Department of Environment will not step in as the camp, numbering only 300 or so animals, does not come into the category of what they consider to be a “significant population”. The current camp footprint is so small that it seems likely that any trimming will result in the animals moving on from the current site (which may of course be the unspoken intent of the action). As always, it’s impossible to predict whether the site they choose as a new roost will bring them into even more conflict with humans.

Concocted bat maladies promoted by The Townsville Bulletin

How many ways can those fearsome flying-foxes inflict illness, injury or death on their hapless, helpless Homo sapien victims in Charters Towers? At least three viral diseases, a fungal disease, various blood-sucking insects, faecal contamination and getting in the way of the emergency helicopter is the tally to date based on stories published in the Townsville Bulletin.

Their list of bat maladies and health risks has been growing rapidly, with four new ones added in the past month: (A) histoplasmosis, (B) blood-sucking mites, (C) Melaka virus and (D) lyssavirus spread by the water supply. But there is no evidence to support the existence of any one of these alleged problems in Charters Towers and they are all based solely on the assertions of the town mayor, a federal MP and those claiming to be affected by these mystery ailments. No health experts are cited or quoted to substantiate the allegations, which contradict expert advice and medical information.

(A) Histoplasmosis [1]: Headlined ‘Disease strikes bat-ridden town’, this story was based on a man’s reported belief that his undiagnosed illness of three years was due to the bats: “Charters Towers man Ronald Jenkins believes an epidemic of bat disease, or histoplasmosis, is behind his major health problems and the ill health of many other town residents.” Despite no doctor having made a diagnosis, “Mr Jenkins swears the problem lies squarely with the colony of an estimated 20,000 bats that has infested the town for years.”

There are no records in the medical literature of histoplasmosis caused by flying-fox faeces, and it is most commonly caught from the accumulated droppings, known as guano, from insectivorous, cave-dwelling bats [2], which are very different to the flying-foxes that roost in Charters Towers.

(B) Bood-sucking mites [3]: The Townsville Bulletin has published two stories and an editorial on alleged tick-like mites, with the first claiming that “Charters Towers residents under siege from a colony of bats are also faced with a plague of blood-sucking mites” and the second that a resident had been wounded on an arm by one of the insects: “[Mr Burnham] showed the Townsville Bulletin a scar on his left arm that Mr Burnham said was caused by an insect that latched on to his skin and fed on his blood.”

Again, no health experts or biologists were cited to support the existence of these alleged mites. Flying-foxes are known to host a few species of mite as well as parasitic wingless flies (Nycteribiidae), but there is no record in the medical literature of insects transferring from flying-foxes and taking blood meals from humans. Wildlife carers who have close contact with flying-foxes have not reported problems with blood-sucking insect attacks [4].

Most mites and the Nycteribiid flies are specific to one or several related hosts and cannot parasitise other species [5]. For these insects to transfer from a host to another animal would normally require close contact with the host animal, which should not be occurring in Charters Towers. Mites do not survive long off their hosts [6]. Occasionally, humans catch scabies from animals (more than 40 species are known to host these mites), but the infestation is usually self-limiting and requires contact with the animal (and the scabies mite is not a blood sucker) [7].

(C) Melaka virus [8]: Mentioned as a threat along with lyssavirus and Hendra virus in a quote from the town mayor, this virus is not known to exist in Australia. It has caused a flu-like illness in one Malaysian family [9]. This virus was also falsely promoted as a risk for Charters Towers on an ABC TV news item on 28 November, see our blog post here.

Confusion about the presence of Melaka in Australia may have originated from this article on the ABC website that quotes Australian scientists and is not wholly clear that the infection had occurred just in Malaysia, not in Australia.

(D) Lyssavirus via the water supply [10]: The Townsville Bulletin quoted Federal MP Bob Katter saying about lyssavirus “Now remember I'm not saying it's as simple as it stepping out of a bat and into a human, but the water supply is one way."

Health experts say spread by the water supply is not possible, Queensland Health stating on its website “A bat bite, scratch or mucous membrane exposure to bat saliva is necessary to transmit the virus” [11].

Promoting fear and hypochondria amongst people who live near bats seems to be The Townsville Bulletin’s contribution to the campaign by Charters Towers politicians to get rid of bats from the town (and to get re-elected; the local state MP Shane Knuth has promised residents that within one month of his party coming to power the bats will be gone [12]).

Contrary to the alarmist statements published by The Townsville Bulletin, health authorities advise that living near a bat camp is not a health risk. A brochure published by Queensland Health states, “Flying foxes are not a health risk to you unless you are bitten or scratched” [13]. Of the only virus known, in Australia, to be transmitted by flying-foxes to humans, Australian bat lyssavirus, they say: “There is no known risk of contracting ABL from bats flying overhead, contact with bat urine or faeces or from fruit they may have eaten.  Living, playing or walking near bat roosting areas does not pose a risk of exposure to the virus.” [14]

Queensland Health has sought to reassure Charters Towers’ residents they are not at risk from flying-foxes. In a story carried by Charters Towers’ local paper (the Northern Miner) [15], but not the Townsville Bulletin, Townsville's public health medical officer Dr Steven Donohue was reported as saying that there is “absolutely no evidence” to suggest bats in Charters Towers are carrying human diseases and there had been “no reports of any local residents getting sick from bats”. “Specifically, Townsville Public Health Unit has no record of any cases of histoplasmosis, Hendra virus, Mokola [sic] virus, lyssavirus, mites, lice or any other parasites arising from bats in Charters Towers,” Dr Donohue said.


References:

[1] See http://www.townsvillebulletin.com.au/article/2010/12/01/188675_news.html

[2] O’Sullivan M, Whitby M, Chahoud C, Miller S. 2004. Histoplasmosis in Australia: A report of a case with a review of the literature.  Australian Dental Journal 49(2): 94-97.

[3] See http://www.townsvillebulletin.com.au/article/2010/11/23/186675_hpphoto.html; http://www.townsvillebulletin.com.au/article/2010/11/23/186775_opinion.html; http://www.townsvillebulletin.com.au/article/2010/11/29/188141_news.html

[4] Pinson D. 2007. The Flying Fox Manual. StickeeBatz Publishing.

[5] Walton SF, Currie BJ. 2007. Scabies: diagnostic problems for a global disease in human and animal populations. Clinical Microbiology Reviews 20:268-279.

Bruyndonckx N, Dubey S, Ruedi M, Christie P. 2009. Molecular cophylogenetic relationships between European bats and their ectoparasitic mites (Acari, Spinturnicidae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 51(2): 227-37.

Hall L, Richards G. 2000. Flying Foxes: Fruit and Blossom Bats of Australia. UNSW Press: University of New South Wales

[6] Mattsson JG, Ljunggren EL, Bergstrom K. 2001. Paramyosin from the parasitic mite Sarcoptes scabiei: cDNA cloning and heterologous expression. Parasitology 122: 555–562.

Bruyndonckx et al. 2009; Walton & Currie 2007. See Note [5].

[7] Mattsson et al. 2001. See Note [6].

[8] See http://www.townsvillebulletin.com.au/article/2010/11/29/188141_news.html

[9] Chua KB, Crameri G, Hyatt A,  et al. 2007. A previously unknown reovirus of bat origin is associated with an acute respiratory disease in humans. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 104(27): 11424-11429.

[10] See http://www.townsvillebulletin.com.au/article/2010/11/29/188141_news.html

[11] See http://www.health.qld.gov.au/goodhealthintnq/topics/abl.asp

[12] See http://www.townsvillebulletin.com.au/article/2009/03/20/45761_news.html

[13] See www.health.qld.gov.au/ph/documents/cdb/livingwithflyingfoxes.pdf

[14] http://www.health.qld.gov.au/goodhealthintnq/topics/abl.asp

[15] Jenkins C. Bats 'no health risk'. Northern Miner. 7 December 2010, page 1.

Even the ABC propagates nonsense about bats

As the public broadcaster, the ABC is required to abide by standards of accuracy, impartiality and balance in its reporting (see the ABC code of practice). But these standards have slipped in some reports filed on flying-foxes, particularly when journalists have yielded to the temptation of sensationalising disease risks.

Flying-foxes carry viruses that can affect humans BUT only one person is recorded as having caught a disease from Australian flying-foxes: a woman died in 1998 from Australian bat lyssavirus after being bitten [1]. Her death could have been prevented by vaccination.

Health departments and health experts advise that mere proximity to bats is not a disease risk (eg. see here) [2]. People just need to take care not to touch bats, and to consult their doctor if they are bitten or scratched (because “bats rarely initiate contact with humans,” this mostly occurs when people try to rescue [3] or harm bats).

But some media reports would have you believe that living near a bat camp is a potential death sentence, including a recent ABC TV news report about a protest in Charters Towers, Queensland, against a bat camp in town (broadcast 28 November, it can be viewed here).

Bat-borne diseases were reported to be the main reason Charters Towers’ residents want the town’s flying-foxes gone, with the newsreader stating that locals say the government is putting their lives at risk by refusing to permit “more proactive measures” to get rid of the bats. Federal MP Bob Katter was shown telling the protesters that “they’ll [the bats? the government?] just laugh at us as we go out there and quite literally die.” The reporter Megan Woodward then referred to three viruses – lyssavirus, Hendra and Melaka – implying that they were all a risk for Charters Towers residents due to the presence of bats: “While links with Hendra and lyssavirus are well-known, the Council says there’s another virus, Melaka, that can be transmitted to humans by bat faeces.”

Not only did the reporter neglect to note that humans don’t catch Hendra virus from bats, and that lyssavirus can’t be transmitted through mere proximity to bats, she concocted a new disease risk that doesn’t even exist in Australia (Melaka virus caused a flu-like illness in a Malaysian family), on the basis of advice from the local government (not normally regarded as health experts). No health expert was interviewed.

The ABC’s failure to research this story properly and the propagation of false information about health risks, with the potential to cause unnecessary alarm in listeners, is irresponsible.

Even an ABC environmental blog managed to inflate disease risks (see here), with reporter Sara Phillips defending Bob Katter’s views on bats and disease: “But Bob Katter isn't mad, you just need to know what he's going on about. Flying foxes do kill people.” [4]

Ms Phillips claimed that flying-foxes have killed six Australians: two from lyssavirus and four from Hendra. But just one death from lyssavirus is attributed to a flying-fox (the one other from a microbat), and flying-foxes do not infect humans with Hendra virus; horses do (but there are no calls for horse culls!) [5].

Flying-foxes are a natural host for Hendra virus. Ironically, people who disperse or kill flying-foxes and destroy their habitat could cause stress-induced spillover events that lead to occasional infections of horses. A scientific review of Hendra and other viruses by Andrew Breed and colleagues [6] warned that the processes driving spillover of infection are those that cause flying-fox decline, including “hunting, roost disturbance and habitat loss or alteration”.

This highlights the importance of reporters properly investigating stories about health threats and consulting experts, to avoid inadvertently supporting the messages of those advocating the very actions likely to increase disease risks.

The ABC news item on the Charters Towers protest was flawed in other ways as well. It implied that the only reason the State Government had refused a permit for helicopter dispersal of the bats was a small risk that bats could be harmed. In fact, human safety was also an issue as flying low over residential areas is considered a hazard by aviation authorities and requires special authorisation, which had not been obtained. Helicopter “mustering” is also likely to fail and result instead in bats moving into residents’ backyards, as has occurred with previous dispersal attempts. Bats are nothing like cattle, and helicopter dispersal didn’t work when it was tried in the Northern Territory.

The ABC news report was also politically biased. It featured three conservative politicians who are each opposed to both bats and the current Queensland Government. The Government was not given a voice in the story (there was one throwaway reference to the environment minister, Kate Jones, at the end of the piece) or the opportunity to respond to false allegations.

Both biased and inaccurate, the reporter stated “With the Bligh Government’s popularity proving to be slipping in polls released today, Charters Towers’ residents are asking Queensland voters to show some solidarity and back their cause and boot the government out.” The reporter had no basis for claiming that “Charters Towers residents” in general want to boot the government out. She could not even legitimately claim that all the protesters want the government booted out unless she had interviewed them all. There are undoubtedly ALP voters in Charters Towers and there are even residents who like having flying-foxes in their park. Unfortunately, bats are being treated as football number one in a nasty political battle, and the ABC seemed to be favouring one side.

The most positive thing that can be said about that ABC news item was that it wasn’t quite as bad as the reporting by the Townsville Bulletin, which has concocted a new blood-sucking creature that jumps from bats to humans in Charters Towers and has sent people to hospital (see here and here).

However, there is usually more to distinguish the ABC from the Townsville Bulletin, as it does regularly feature balanced and informative reporting on flying-foxes. It’s a pity the reporter for the Charters Towers story didn’t at least consult the ABC Online Scribbly Gum site about flying-foxes (see here), which conveys disease risks accurately and states that “just being near a roost will not put you at risk of being infected”.



References:

[1] Hanna J, Carney I, Smith G, et al. 2000. Australian bat lyssavirus infection: a second human case, with a long incubation period. Medical Journal of Australia 172:597-9. Note that the other case of lyssavirus (also fatal) was thought to be due to contact with a microbat. 

[2] For example, a brochure published by Queensland Health explicitly states: “Flying foxes are not a health risk to you unless you are bitten or scratched”. See www.health.qld.gov.au/ph/documents/cdb/livingwithflyingfoxes.pdf.

[3] McCall B, Epstein J, Neill A, et al. 2000. Potential human exposure to Australian bat lyssavirus: Brisbane South and South Coast, Queensland, 1996-1999. Emerging Infectious Diseases 6: 259-264.

[4] It seems strange that an environmental reporter would set out to defend Bob Katter’s views on flying-foxes. Mr Katter characterises flying-foxes in extreme terms as killers and advocates mass culling; contrary to all evidence, he claims they are in “plague” numbers: "There are no varieties that aren't 10 to 100 times the numbers they were at European settlement because back then they had nothing to eat” (see here)

[5] Contrast this with reporting on other diseases. Ross River virus and Barmah Forest virus have been spread to humans by mosquitoes which bit kangaroos and wallabies. The media reports these diseases as being transmitted by mosquitoes, not kangaroos and wallabies. When there is a sequence of hosts, there seems to be a tendency to focus ‘blame’ for the disease on the least popular of them.

[6] Breed A, Field H, Epstein J, Plowright RK, Daszak P. 2006. Emerging henipaviruses and flying foxes conservation and management perspectives. Biological Conservation 131: 211-220.