Backyard fruit tree netting is injuring and killing Melbourne’s fruit bats

Backyard fruit tree netting is injuring and killing Melbourne’s fruit bats.

Tamsyn Hogarth, founder of ‘Fly By Night’, a bat rescue clinic, said the problem is the holes in many tree nets are too big, allowing the bats to get tangled, then injured.

‘You should be using a net that you can’t put your finger through; it should be tied down and put on properly, not just flung over.’

Fruit Bats are a protected, native and threatened species with Victoria’s bat population estimated to be at around 30,000.

‘They’re declining about 30% a year, there is a big drop in their population, we need them, they pollinate’ she said.

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