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We want to thank each of you who contacted Mayor Bob Manning in response to our Bat Flash in March on behalf of an urgent threat to Australia’s now critically endangered spectacled flying foxes. We appear to be having important impact, as just reported by Sera Steves, Secretary, Bats and Trees Society of Cairns.
“The mayor and council are visibly and vocally struck by the amount of email responses they’ve gotten, good work! However, they continue to hide behind the false idea that a dispersal is for the good of the bats. The welfare argument needs to be shot out of the air and the focus needs to be on tourism potential. The feedback from tourists proved valuable in response to an article in the Cairns post about dispersing the bats with pool noodles, pyrotechnics, gas guns, stock whips and air horns.”
Please express your formal opposition to the City Council itself, specifically opposing eviction plans for the spectacled flying foxes at the Cairns Library. This species has already needlessly faced catastrophic decline, and the City Council’s planned eviction from a key traditional roost would only worsen their now desperate situation and harm bat tourism.
The more responses the City Council gets in opposition to this proposal the better, and we have just a few days left before the submission period ends on April 28th. Here is a detailed document itemizing the problems with the current dispersal proposal that you may use as a template to add your personal touch to the pre-written opposition letter by Cairns and Far North Environment Centre. Your support for these bats can make a huge difference!
A little extra for locals…
There is a bat vigil taking place this Saturday, April 27, at the Cairns library tree to commemorate bat lives lost during the heat stress event. Also the Cairns Bat Festival is May 4th. Tag Bats and Trees Society of Cairns and Merlin Tuttle’s Bat Conservation if you attend!
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Michael Lazari Karapetian has over twenty years of investment management experience. He has a degree in business management, is a certified NBA agent, and gained early experience as a money manager for the Bank of America where he established model portfolios for high-net-worth clients. In 2003 he founded Lazari Capital Management, Inc. and Lazari Asset Management, Inc. He is President and CIO of both and manages over a half a billion in assets. In his personal time he champions philanthropic causes. He serves on the board of Moravian College and has a strong affinity for wildlife, both funding and volunteering on behalf of endangered species.
