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| Flying Fox Season |
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| Tuesday, 15 February 2011 23:30 |
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WIRES has had 30 calls to grey-headed flying foxes on the North Shore last week and eight before 11am on one morning. In South Western Sydney there have been 77 calls to trapped flying foxes over the past month.
The areas most affected include SW Sydney especially the Liverpool and Holroyd Council areas the North Shore and the Bankstown and Parramatta Council areas. The cause is the use of poorly erected and inappropriate netting - the cheap, black, monofilament netting available widely from hardware stores. See our factsheet on how to erect netting that is safer for wildlife. In the Bankstown area WIRES has been called to bats caught in netting in Revesby, Green Valley, Punchbowl, Padstow and Greenacre. In one case volunteers have been out to the same resident on ten different occasions – the first two flying foxes had died and the other eight had to be cut from the netting. On other occasions animals have been found on trapped in netting after being cut from the tree and left on the ground to die.WIRES is seeing animals with horrific injuries – torn wings and deep cuts to the bone and WIRES south west branch member and flying fox carer Cate Ryan said this kind of suffering is completely unavoidable.
“Flying foxes, bird and reptiles cannot see this fine netting. If they get caught they panic and become more and more entangled,” Cate said.
“But there is no reason people can't have fruit trees and protect our unique flying foxes and other wildlife.
“Use a durable, knitted netting stretched tight over a frame constructed of timber or PVC pipes. Peg the net tightly to the ground and keep it at least a metre clear of the tree. Or 50% blockout shade cloth can be thrown over the tree and pegged to branches as a temporary measure.
“You can make a frame from four PVC tubes over star posts driven at least 40cm into the ground. You will need two tubes connected at the top of the structure for each arch. Attach PVC pipes with cable ties and stretch white, knitted netting taut over frame – secure with cable ties.
“Paper bags can also be used to protect individual fruits.”
Netting needs to be checked daily for trapped wildlife but if you find an entangled flying fox do not try to remove it yourself. Call WIRES or your local wildlife rescue group.
Flying foxes can bite or scratch when threatened and a very small number carry a virus called Lyssavirus. If bitten or scratched wash the area thoroughly and seek urgent medical treatment.
All Australian native animals are protected and the grey-headed flying fox is listed as vulnerable to extinction which gives it added protection in law.
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WIRES – the NSW Wildlife Information, Rescue and Education Service has been called to scores of flying foxes entangled in fruit netting.