The "North Connex " is the most expensive and the most important road programme ever envisaged in Sydney. It promises to deliver a motorway linking Sydney's vast western suburbs with the city CBD and end the misery of commuters travelling at snail's pace on our present narrow and congested road system - and now a new threat has emerged.
The Environment movement is warning that the link between the M1 and M2 sections of this vital artery crosses terrain - where bats may be breeding. In particular, road work would disrupt the breeding cycle of the Eastern Bentwing bat - and probably the larger Pied bat. Bats traditionally breed in caves, but there being no caves in this area they have adapted to taking over culverts and similar cover - and they are considered an "endangered species ".
To many cynics, this seems a very familiar story from the "anti progress "people. Bats are a migratory animal and they tend to locate to where food is plentiful. It doesn't seem to occur to the environmentalists that if conditions become unpleasant, they will most likely take off to some place more pleasant - which is exactly what we humans do in similar circumstances.
The implication seems to be that work must stop on this $ 3 billion project to allow the bats to mate and nurture their young through the lactation period - which lasts for the months of spring and summer. It also ignores the fact that when a wild native animal chooses to live within a city it quickly adapts to the noise and activity that goes with a change from country living. This area between the M1 and the M2 would be perhaps the most solidly developed part of the city. These bats are already living cheek and jowl with humans - and the noise they make !
There is something fascinating about how the announcement of any sort of new endeavour seems to draw a " nay sayer " out of the woodwork. Invariably, this is someone with an objection based on the presence of some rare form of plant life or the possibility that a last remnant of an extinct animal may still be lurking in the area to be developed. Many will remember the projects held up for years because of fear that work would disturb the mating habits of a creature called the "Golden Bell Frog "!
There is absolutely no possibility that building the North Connex will bring about the annihilation of this bat colony. It may slow the breeding rate for the time construction is under way - and it may cause the colony to disperse to new areas, but that is the price we have to pay for progress - and what nature has to pay because it shares the earth with humans.
By all means make sure that the road builders do not unnecessarily disturb the bats, but also keep in mind that bats carry the Lyssavirus threat. They pose a health risk when they breed in close association with humans and people are well advised to avoid contact with dead bats - and to be very careful tending injured ones. That is best left to those trained in veterinary science.
If this develops into street protests and people carrying "Save the Bats "signs, don't expect long suffering western suburbs motorists to be prominent amongst the numbers !
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