Linville residents welcome a bat hiatus

THEY must have heard the message because just weeks after the Linville community meeting the bats which invaded the small Somerset town have disappeared.

ALL CLEAR: Linville residents Brian White and Debbie Kerr stand at William St where thousands of bats hung from the trees earlier this year. Picture: Ali Kuchel

THEY must have heard the message because just weeks after the Linville community meeting the bats which invaded the small Somerset town have disappeared.

More than 500,000 bats were calling local residents backyards home but in the past week, they've left Linville and residents are delighted.

Linville Hotel publican Debbie Kerr said a window of opportunity has opened for the town.

"I just want something to be done prior to them coming back, if they come back," Mrs Kerr said.

"The smell has sort of cleared up, we've been onto the council to clean up the mess and clean the creek bed before they turn up again."

At the meeting in January, residents voiced concern about the growing bat colonies disrupting their lifestyles and causing health concerns.

With the bat roosts multiplying from 2000 to 500,000, residents were fed up with the smells, noise and disruption.

Mrs Kerr said it was "great" the bats had moved on, however they had left a path of destruction.

"We've just got to get the mess cleaned up now," she said. "Trees are stripped, it's just terrible."

Somerset Regional Council mayor Graeme Lehmann said council would soon be working on cleaning up the mess. "Fortunately, almost all of the 500,000 bats that were calling Linville home over Christmas have now moved on completely and council will soon be able to co-ordinate works in that township as well," Cr Lehmann said.

"Council is doing everything it can to reduce the impact of flying foxes in the region and we will continue to work with various levels of government and neighbouring councils to find a solution to this problem that will serve us better into the future."

However, recognised flying fox expert Dr Les Hall said he'd "almost bet on it" the colonies were on their way to the Sunshine Coast.