The Australian town of Ingham is facing a serious crisis at the moment. Hundreds of thousands of fruit bats (also known as flying foxes) have invaded the area in the past month, and the situation has gotten so out of hand that children are too scared to attend school, and helicopters can’t even make their way to the hospital.
In fact, the numbers are so vast that they actually outnumber humans, with an estimated 300,000 in the past few weeks. And to make matters even worse, the town has been invaded with not just one type of bat species, but with four.
Each species mates at a different time, making it even more of a challenge to intervene. Bats are also protected by law, meaning that only official authorities have the right to take action and try to get them to move. These bats also don’t seem to want to move anytime soon.
Children fear attending classes, especially since there is a massive swarm of bats that have established their territory right on school grounds, and some of these bats are known to carry infectious diseases.
People are complaining and are having a very difficult time dealing with this situation. But on the other hand, experts have expressed that bats are needed for a natural balance and that we would actually be worse off without their existence.