Where The Bats Have Hung Their Hat
The Royal Melbourne Botanic Garden (RMBG) was established in the 1840's, just six years after Melbourne was founded. Its century-old trees were once famous for lining lakes and grasslands, acting as a magnificent sanctuary in the midst of a busy city, for all to enjoy. Today, the gardens are more likely to resemble the front cover of a horror novel. The eerie atmosphere and unsightly views are due to the large colonies of bats that have nested high in the canopies of trees, causing detrimental and perhaps fatal effects on the gardens. According to newspapers "The Age" and "Herald Sun", the issue has become a controversial debate, with the RMBG management trying desperately to preserve their gardens, and animal rights lobbyists' persistently knocking their door in an effort to save the lives of the pests that have ruined an important part of Australia's heritage. The RMBG was founded by a man by the name of Charles Joseph La Trobe, an English professor and explorer who evidently had a fondness for Australian botany. Rumor has it that in the 18th and 19th centuries, natural history was the new science of the world. Dimity Reed, author of "Cull the bats or kill the Botanic Gardens", gives an exposition of how La Trobe'
These simple, common sense factors indicate that this species is certainly not endangered. It is easy to see that this seemingly harmless course of nature can be detrimental to the gardens, desecrating over a century of hard work, pride and government money. I have been able to witness, first hand , that a large percentage of the rainforest has vanished or simply been damaged because of the bats causing wear and tear to the foliage and limbs of Heritage Listed trees. We see the RMBG as a free source of pleasure, joy, wonder and relaxation in a busy city, and its demise would have a significantly distressing effect on many locals as well as tourists. However, from reading up on the issue, it appears as though the government is an advocate of the culling to go ahead, so funds for the relocation may not come easily. The garden's director, Dr Phillip Moores, has publicly suggested that in solution to the bat crisis, the pests should be shot down one by one in an effort to immediately reduce numbers. With no fruit and no leaves, the limbs of trees are left bare, and the constant presence of the bats disables the re-growth of foliage. The "Herald Sun" quotes in one of its articles that, "an extremist group has threatened to kill a tree in the gardens for every bat killed". Dominique Thiriet, Flying-fox rescue coordinator, who has spent many years working for Melbourne's Humane Society for Animal Welfare by observing this particular colony, says the bats established a home in the gardens in the early 1980's, and at that time were not considered a problem. According to the commentary of Jane Rickards in "Experts Go To Bat for Flying Foxes," these factors provide motivation for four out of five Australians to believe the bats don't belong in the gardens- an alarming statistic. Common sense tells us that all alternative methods are deemed to be unsuccessful if tried, because there is no guarantee that these methods will avert the bats from relocating back to their home in RMBG once they are moved. The bats will be executed by means of the diffusion of a poisonous gas that will painlessly and quickly put the bats to sleep. This rather rash retaliation has enticed the Humane Society for Animal Welfare president, Mr.
Common topics in this essay:
Heritage Listed,
Eastern Australia,
La Trobe's,
Robert Hill,
Bat Cull,
Garden RMBG,
Herald Sun,
Animal Welfare,
Phillip Moores,
Botanic Gardens,
botanic gardens,
humane society animal,
natural history,
herald sun,
common sense,
animal welfare,
society animal,
humane society,
bat population,
culling bats,
busy city,
royal melbourne botanic,
society animal welfare,
|
Acceptance Essays
