Geoff Dawe, Byrrill Creek.
The Management of Flying Foxes survey underway is misnamed. Since flying foxes are able to live their lives within nature, and technocratic humans largely cannot, management involves management of humans for coexistence with flying foxes.
Those humans who are not in support of flying foxes tend to complain primarily of noise and smell.
A young man complained that the rooster on his rural land was aggravating because it woke him early. I slept at his place and never heard the rooster. An explanation is that my acceptance of the rooster as part of nature meant I could sleep through its call. The young man, however, appeared to be embittered with the rooster. His perception of the rooster may have estranged him from this part of nature. The same might apply to people aggravated by squabbling flying foxes.
The complaint of smell requires a more holistic solution. Industrialised agriculture is unsustainable. This requires all humans gardening the land surrounding their dwelling. People living near flying foxes are able to place grasses or straw under flying foxes for manure collection for their gardens.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
