Can Australias Flying Foxes Survive?
by: Elizabeth D. Pierson Australia’s flying foxes are in serious trouble. In a recent surprise move the Government of Queensland, apparently under pressure from a small but influential fruit growers lobby, removed four species of flying fox from the protected fauna list. This means there is now an open season on flying foxes, and these highly beneficial animals are already suffering mass slaughter. I witnessed this myself on a recent trip to Queensland, and know through communication with scientists in Australia, that the situation is becoming more critical daily. This controversy dates back to the beginning of European settlement in Australia. Flying foxes traditionally have been viewed as intolerable pests, orchard robbers par excellence, that thrive on cultivated fruits, as rats do on human garbage. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Flying foxes are primarily blossom feeders, major and essential pollinators of native forest trees. Fruit, especially cultivated fruit, plays onl
