Just in case you needed another reminder that Australia is the land of terrifying beasts.
A small town in northeast Australia called Charters Towers is currently under siege from swarms of flying foxes.
Hundreds of thousands of the flying rodents, also known as ‘fruit bats’ have been terrorising the northern Queensland town this week, deeming locals too afraid to leave their homes.
Local authorities have been forced to close local facilities including swimming pools and parks because of the infestation.
A plague of 200,000 bats has taken over this town in Australia leaving locals scared to leave their homes pic.twitter.com/xeh5Exak4Q
— ITV News (@itvnews) December 9, 2017
The town’s Regional Council has estimated there are upwards of 200,000 bats in the town, numbers that allegedly equate “plague proportions”.
Locals have taken it upon themselves to form the Charters Towers Bat Action Group, in order to allow for residents to feel safe in their own town. The group, at time of writing, stands at 1,471 members. Upon requesting to join the group, you are asked three questions; 1. Are you a bat lover?, 2. Would you like to see the bats dispersed/moved on from Charters Towers?, 3. Or would you prefer to cull these nasty bats?
Flying fox ecologist Jon Luly said that the communities involved were better off leaving bat colonies alone due to their important pollination techniques, and that there isn’t a huge health risk.
“Realistically speaking there’s not much of a risk to health as opposed to feeling that it is dangerous,” Dr Luly said.
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