by Carla Caruso

In a follow-up to our recent story about a local bat rescue organisation, a park-goer has alerted us to another issue involving the flying mammals.

Prospect nature lover and photographer Fran Mussared, who we’ve previously interviewed, was concerned about bats migrating from Botanic Park to the Adelaide Botanic Garden (both in Park 11).

“The grey-headed flying fox has taken up residence in the Adelaide Botanic Garden,” Fran wrote in March.

“It’s always been my concern that they would move from Botanic Park to the gardens, and with that, bring about destruction of so many heritage trees.”

The setup and pack-down of the WOMADelaide festival often causes disruption for the large bat colony, which resides in Botanic Park.

However, a Botanic Garden spokesperson has told us that there’s no need for alarm: the bats’ numbers there are only temporary.

“When large-scale events in Botanic Park take place, such as WOMADelaide most recently, we sometimes see bats leave their usual home and visit the garden,” he said.

“Our staff are well-trained and act appropriately to get the bats back to where they need to be.”

Another park-lover, Ann Dubbioso, also commented on our Facebook page about another recent event, which affects the bats: the Adelaide 500 supercar race.

Her comments followed the staging of the Adelaide Motorsport Festival in Victoria Park / Pakapakanthi (Park 16) in March.

“The poor wildlife in our parkland again had to endure the stressful loud noise of race cars,” Ann wrote.

“Not many people would know this, but in December, hundreds of bats died in the Botanical Gardens during the [Adelaide] 500 as the bats [fly] into each other out of fear when the super fighter jet [fly] over the Botanical Gardens area, leaving many orphaned bats and overwhelmed carers having to care for them. 

“A car race with fast cars should not be held in our Park Lands, next to suburbs, where people live, or in the middle of a small and green city like ours.”

As Bat Rescue SA chair Sue Westover previously told us, our local bats should be nurtured not maligned. “They’re an amazing species; they’re vital. They’re a keystone species because they’re pollinators and seed dispersers, so we need them. After bushfires, they help to regenerate the bushland [too].”

Meanwhile, WOMADelaide also faced criticism for another animal-related issue this year: a French aerial circus performance, in which a large amount of duck feathers were showered onto the crowd and Botanic Park.