They’re back – more than 1000 fruit bats are making life hell for several central Maitland residents who say their homes and gardens are being soiled with guano and urine that pose a health risk.
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The bats swooped out of the sky around Hannan and Sempill streets about 18 months ago.
Residents believe the bats – or flying foxes – are the ones that fled their haven in Lorn after Maitland City Council received permission from the state government to cut down the trees in which the bats lived.
The amount of bat poo and wee in backyards, on cars and on houses is so great that every morning many residents have to hose down the area so their children can play outside.
Parents are frightened about bats biting or scratching their youngsters and fear they may contract the deadly lyssavirus.
Some people told how they no longer tended their vegetable gardens because of the devastation.
Danielle Griffiths said she feared for the health and well-being of her three-year-old daughter in that environment.
“My little girl Summer cannot play on her trampoline or do anything in the backyard until I have hosed everything down – every day,” Ms Griffiths said.
“I am a former vet nurse and I understand the concerns about the welfare of bats, but I am very worried about my daughter – and other children – being scratched or bitten.
“People may say the chance of youngsters contracting lyssavirus is small, but they can’t tell me my child won’t get bitten.”
Nurse Megan Carter said she no longer collected vegetables from her garden because the noise from the bats and the smell after rain were intolerable.
“I just want my life back,” resident Len Chenery said.
“I used to grow bonsai trees as a hobby but the bats have destroyed them.
“The bats must be a health risk to everyone.”
Asked what they could tell people about how to deal with bats, a spokesman at the Office of the NSW Environment and Heritage issued a statement that said Maitland City Council had notified them of a number of complaints about the flying foxes from concerned residents.
Council had requested a review of a proposal to prune trees that supported a camp of about 600 grey-headed flying foxes in central Maitland.