Animal Liberation (Vic) has from the outset challenged the Botanic Gardens' claim that the Flying Fox colony in Fern Gully must be exterminated because it poses a serious threat to the flora of the Gardens. If the issue was essentially about tree damage a simple, non-lethal solution could be applied-namely netting affected trees to protect them from roosting bats and give their branches a chance to rehabilitate. It is a strategy used extensively and effectively elsewhere. There are also more technologically -sophisticated devices such as the ultrasonic "bat guard" used in the stone fruit areas of Queensland which is range specific and will protect particular clumps of trees...There are interests being served and far more complex agendas driving the bat slaughter that are not being publically acknowledged-perhaps the many FOI applications lodged by us and Animals Australia will throw some light on the driving forces. In the meantime, keep up the protest faxes, emails, phone calls, letters ...they may save the few remaining Flying Foxes of Fern Gully. I am attaching the most recent media releases sent from our office:

Rheya Linden.

MEDIA RELEASE

2000-05-29

Contact: Rheya Linden, 0414 360 283

MINISTER GARBUTT'S MOVE TO SAVE BOTANIC GARDENS FLYING FOX COLONY TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE.

Animal Liberation's Rheya Linden asks, "Where are the 8000 Flying Foxes Sherryl Garbutt purports to be protecting? Has the clearly- misinformed Minister visited Fern Gully lately to witness the death toll first hand?"

Animal Liberation's spokesperson, Rheya Linden, today responded angrily to the recent announcement from the office of the Minister for Conservation and Environment, Sherryl Garbutt, that the "culling of flying foxes in Melbourne's Botanic Gardens has been suspended pending the outcome of moves to list the bats as endangered."(The Age, May 25, 2000) stating that the Minister has cynically waited for the precipitated massacre to be completed before suspending the so-called "cull".

"If only 100 flying foxes have been killed in Fern Gully, as the perpetual claim by Botanic Gardens management falsely asserts, where are the rest of the 8000 that should comprise the colony at this mating time of the year? demanded Ms Linden. "The trampled vegetation, trees bare of their former inhabitants and bat researcher Chris Tiddeman's monstrous killing machine-the Harp Net, now permanently cemented in place in Fern Gully- testify to the Gardens having become wildlife killing fields with full approval from the Minister's department."

Ms Linden claims that the Minister was fully informed about the vulnerable, veering to endangered, status of the Grey Headed Flying Fox species in March when she approved the extermination program of Victoria's only breeding colony.

".Garbutt stood by whilst her departmental advisers and the management of the Botanic Gardens systematically destroyed Fern Gully's flying foxes, turning a blind eye to the vandalistic slaughter of a wildlife species whose survival is already under massive threat due to habitat loss and plummeting female numbers. With political expediency she is now implementing moves to save the colony that she knows has already been virtually exterminated."

On May 8 Animal Liberation gained an admission from Dr Robert Begg, Director of Flora and Fauna at the Department of Natural Resources and Environment, that some of the bats captured at the Botanic Gardens were to be used for scientific experimentation. Dr Begg also admitted on this occasion that Tiddeman's Harp Net -described on page 2 of his department's Bat Fact Sheet as intended for the live capture of Flying Foxes- had already been used several times despite continuing Botanic Gardens claims that it has not been used at all.

A subsequent media release from Animal Liberation accusing Dr. Begg of deceiving the public and misinforming the Minister about the research agenda surrounding the capture of the Flying Fox colony at the Botanic Gardens has met with a threat of legal action against Rheya Linden for defamation of Dr Begg and his Department.