On the morning of Tuesday 27 January Wildlife Rescue organisations were alerted by the Golf Club Management of numerous flying foxes being entangled in the large mesh and very high netting around the driving range installed in 2025 and authorised by Federal, State and Council departments.
Several wildlife rescue teams including Australia Zoo Wildlife Hospital (AZWH) rushed on site where we required to rent, urgently, a boom lift paid for by the Golf Club to be able to attend and free the poor entangled animals. The QLD DETSI and RSPCA were also called for advice.
A total of 51 were entangled and fighting for their life. Five were already dead on the ground. The process to reach to them with the boom lift/crane and cutting them away from the mesh was sadly slow and we only managed to save 35. The others cooked in the sun and died from stress and exhaustion. Once delivered to the vet care cell on the ground they were to be freed from the mesh while being rehydrated and checked for any injuries. Two had to be euthanised on site.
These flying foxes were part of an estimated 10,000 which had their roost near the Carramar Aged Care and whose flying path was just above the driving range. They were flying to attend the bloodwood trees flowering which lasts around 3 weeks. Flying foxes are keystone, nocturnal pollinators essential for the health and regeneration of native Australian forests. By feeding on nectar and pollen, they transport genetic material over vast distances—up to 100 km in a night—far exceeding the range of insect pollinators. They are crucial for pollinating Eucalyptus, Melaleuca, and Banksia species.
On Wednesday morning another 25 got entangled and we managed to save 21. Out of the 54 saved in total and sent to AZWH and carers, 3 didn’t survive.
We were delivered one mobile flood light tower, followed by a second one a few days after, paid by the Golf Club and that, installed at the front and at the back of the driving range enabled to lit up the area and made the netting more visible. We also installed 2 lines of reflectors.
I then started attending the driving range every morning at 5am from Thursday 29 January till Saturday 21 February to check for any entanglement.
We had one entanglement at least every second day that we would drive to Eumundi Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre RSPCA or to AZWH.
We had another 8 entangled in total of which one had to euthanised as we had to wait for 9 hours for a boom lift replacement.
On Monday 16 February there was a very agitated black flying fox which lunged at my hand and scratched me while I was taking pictures of the rescuers disentangling it.
I spent the day between Noosa Hospital and Gympie Hospital emergency departments where I received injections of immunoglobulin, tetanus and the first vaccine shot against the lyssavirus/rabies.
The last entangled one was on Tuesday 16 February, a cute juvenile little red that was driven to AZWH.
Still every day lorikeets fly into the nets, become stressed trying to find a way out but manage to escape, usually very quickly, but sometimes it takes them too long.
While all this was happening there was a meeting between GABBA the netting manufacturer, Tewantin Golf Club Management, various rescue groups and Noosa Council.
From Wednesday 18 February to Friday 20 February GABBA removed the top 2 layers on the left and right sides of the nets and only the top layer on the back nets, which will stay off for 10 to 12 weeks, then appropriate redesigned netting will be installed with 140 reflector disks in total. Some have already been installed. Since then no entanglement but it coincided with the end of the bloodwood flowering as there was no longer mass flights, just a few individuals from the 16th of February. The flood lights will be left for another week or two. The tension of the nets will be readjusted for all panels and a few more things will need to be done to make the nets safe in a “Land of Wildlife” accredited Golf Course. Next year they will also have 2 flood lights from January to March for the little reds migration.
We now expect the cooperative Golf Course staff to let us know as early as possible of any further entanglement, however when the boom lift will be removed from us, we’ll have to organise one in emergency in case of new entanglements.
It is our greatest hope that the changes to the netting will work for all flying animals.
