This is an opportunity to comment. Will there be a measurable increase with culling policies for fruit growers now introduced.

Click on image to left to complete survey online or phone 132523

Biosecurity Queensland is calling on members of the general public to participate in an online survey about flying foxes. The survey aims to gain a better understanding of public opinions, attitudes and knowledge of flying foxes and possible flying fox management options. 

Due to the number of Hendra virus incidents in recent years, some communities have become more aware of the presence of flying foxes and the viruses that can be carried by these animals.

In areas where dispersal of flying foxes has either been proposed or has occurred, there has also been some concern about possible increased virus excretion from flying foxes as a result of dispersal.

Survey link from this page and research link here 

Hendra virus - the facts is a balanced report from tourism interests in Port Douglas

This factsheet from CAIRNS REGIONAL COUNCIL is also very informative and busts 10 BAT MYTHS 

2010 SPOTLIGHT ON WILDLIFE IN SCENIC RIM  - series of community workshops sponsored by SRRC

To help celebrate the 2010 United Nations International year of Biodiversity , the Logan and Albert Conservation Association will be hosting a series of free public workshops entitled 'Spotlight on Wildlife in the Scenic Rim'. The workshops have been funded through a Community Environment Assistance Grant from the Scenic Rim Regional Council.

The first 2010 WORKSHOP will be held in Canungra where there is a significant colony of bats and where recently there was a crisis to save the babies after a storm devestated their usual bat family nursery habitat. The workshop will help us all to become more aware of the signifigant contributions this family of flying marsupials makes to our shared environment and how we can all live safely and harmoniously together.

The Canungra workshop will include guest speakers Louise Saunders from Bat Care Brisbane Inc, Janet Gamble from the wildlife section of the RSPCA and local zoologist Ronda Green.

Professor Jonathan Hill, the head of the school of Veterinary Science at the University of Queensland, says once a Hendra virus quarantine has been lifted, any concern about any of the horses on property where Hendra virus had been is misplaced. It is indeed uncessary misfortune to have sound horses devalued as a result of exposure. When people who contact or walk into infectious diseases and don't get the disease, we know that they are not infected. Professor Jonathan Hill says the horses are not damaged goods just because they have been on a stud which had horses that had Hendra virus. In fact you could say that they have been tested to be 100 per cent certain of being clear, which puts them in a unique spot.

Professor Hill says such misconceptions stem from a lack of knowledge about Hendra virus, which need to be addressed with research.