JOHN Rose can remember when, as a child of five, he’d head out with adults armed with shotguns to kill flying fox colonies that were destroying orchards around Morisset.
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Mr Rose, now aged 70, understands that times have changed.
Shotguns were a solution for the flying fox problem of the time.
He’s now calling on authorities to find a solution for the flying fox problem of 2016.
Mr Rose is among the residents of Blackalls Park and Toronto being tormented by a large colony of the mammals.
“Don’t get me wrong, I think they are beautiful animals, but they don’t mix with humans,” Mr Rose said.
Blackalls Park residents have long complained about the cacophony of sound created by the flying foxes (also known as fruit bats) around the clock.
And then there’s the smell, the problems caused by their excrement, and their habit of stripping bare and killing the trees they live in.
It’s a problem shared by urban communities along the east coast.
Elsewhere, authorities have tried the use of bright lights, noise and smoke to move the flying foxes along. But with mixed results.
“Look, I don’t know what the answer is, but we have to start talking about it,” Mr Rose said.
That’s why Mr Rose has compiled a petition of about 700 signatures calling for somebody, anybody, to intervene.
He has presented the petition to Lake Macquarie City Council and Independent state MP Greg Piper.
Mr Rose said huge camps of flying foxes had become a statewide problem, yet the animal was classified as endangered and was thereby protected.
“There are so many flying foxes getting around the east coast, how can they still be endangered?” he said.
Mr Rose has kept a diary of the flying fox movements and behaviour since they first arrived at Blackalls Park en mass in 2013.
“They don’t go out at night and sleep all day. They fight and argue all night, and the next day,” he said.
At its summer peak, the Blackalls Park colony was estimated to number 40,000.
Mr Rose said the flying foxes left the area in winter last year on June 7. “But They didn’t leave on June 7 this year. Many of them are still here.”
Mr Piper said he had “great sympathy” for the people living close to the colony.
“They are trying to co-exist with a huge colony which is extremely noisy, smelly and destructive,” he said.
“I enjoy seeing the flying foxes around, but a colony of about 40,000 of them clearly can’t share a peaceful existence in a residential neighbourhood.”
He has spoken to NSW Environment Minister Mark Speakman and the council about possible solutions.
