BACKYARDS black with faeces and dead bats dropping from the sky.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
What sounds like something from a horror movie, is a daily reality for a handful of residents on south hill.
Catherine Street resident Susan Williamsen has thousands of bats backing onto her back door – and she’s fed up.
Related Stories
“Look at how close they are to our houses, it’s just disgusting,” she said.
“It takes me an hour and a half everyday just to hose everything off.
“Yesterday I had to bury an adult bat. I am down there digging holes, burying these dead bats it’s disgusting.
“This is a public health issue, we’re living with this filth.”
The mammals took up residence in the bush land behind Murray Avenue on Tuesday, October 3.
Seven weeks later, Karen Walker, who also lives on Catherine Avenue, said it was time for Council to take action.
“We pay our rates, do all the right things and we are appalled at the lack of inaction,” she said.
“There’s one rule for the bats and another for us.”
Armidale Regional Council and the Office of Environment and Heritage (OEH) are currently working together to ensure the bats and people are kept safe, CEO Peter Dennis told The Express last week.
He said there are “limited options for direct intervention on the existing camp between the months of October through to March”.
Ms Walker has just put her house on the market, but worries the bats might drive away buyers.
“I ask my real estate agent to come early before the stench gets too bad,” she said.
“We really feel legally we must have some rights, the bats shouldn’t have all the rights.
We really feel legally we must have some rights, the bats shouldn’t have all the rights.
- Karen Walker
“We’re at our wit’s end and these bats are very stressed.”
Jill and Hugh Ford on Murray Avenue told Fairfax Media on Tuesday they want Armidale Regional Council to develop an immediate management plan to minimise the worst effected areas.
“It’s a difficult situation because in many ways the Council’s hands are tied with what can be done,” Mrs Ford said.
“I realise that, but the noise and smell is really impacting us.
“The residents that are severely impacted really would like to have a meeting sooner rather than later.”
Fairfax Media is still waiting on a response after contacting Council to confirm a date for the meeting.
Last week Mr Dennis said Council, along with the OEH, has been monitoring the camp and is in regular contact with residents concerned about the camp.
NSW Health recently sent out a warning, urging people to avoid contact with bats that could carry serious diseases.
Director of Communicable Diseases NSW Branch, Dr Vicky Sheppeard said 142 people across the state have been given rabies post-exposure treatment this year after they were bitten or scratched by a bat.
“People should steer clear of bats at all times,” she said.
“Four bats were confirmed with the lyssavirus in NSW this year and lyssavirus infection can result in a rabies-like illness which is very serious and, if not prevented, is fatal.”
What are the symptoms?
The early symptoms are flu-like, including headache, fever and fatigue.
The illness progresses rapidly to paralysis, delirium, convulsions and death, usually within a week or two.
Rabies cases and the three known human cases of ABLV infection have shown a wide variability in the time it takes for symptoms to appear following exposure to an infected animal (from several days to several years).
How are they spread?
Both rabies and ABLV are spread from infected animals to people through bites or scratches, or by being exposed to infected animals’ saliva through the eyes, nose, mouth or broken skin.
Only mammals can be infected. Overseas, dogs are the main transmitter of rabies. Other animals that transmit rabies overseas include bats, monkeys, foxes, cats, raccoons, skunks, jackals and mongooses.
For more information visit the rabies and lyssavirus fact sheet.