A DURBAN North resident is being driven to despair by a colony of fruit bats using her property as an outhouse. The resident, who did not want to be named, lives on Broadway (Swapo) Road and is subject to nightly bombardment by scores of bats. “It’s just everywhere,” she said, exasperated, pointing out the bat excrement on her home’s walls, windows, roof and practically every exposed surface.

The fruit bats, about 40 of them, inhabit a fig tree in which they roost and feed every night. What’s more, the resident has lived at the property for the past 18 years but the problem has been exacerbated in the last three weeks after the house was renovated.

“Before we renovated, we never had a problem. But since then, it’s been a frustrating experience. Every night without fail they defecate on the walls. They also seem to be spreading the seeds from the fig tree, which take root where they fall. The mess that is on the wall at the moment was much worse a few weeks back. When my contractor returned to work after painting he was shocked as he thought it was vandals who had messed the wall. This is a complete eyesore. I can’t afford to keep repainting the wall or cleaning it on a daily basis,” she said.

The resident’s situation is mirrored by her neighbour’s, who has bat droppings streaked around his pool area. Desperate for a solution, the frustrated resident contacted the municipality’s parks department.

“Some department officials have come over, including the horticulturist. As I understood it, they would cut the tree down to the stump or prune it. But the problem with pruning in the past lead to more offshoots. The tree is encroaching on the neighbour’s wall and has even become tangled in the electrical wire running along the length of the neighbouring properties,” she said.

Wendy White, treasurer of the Bat Interest Group of KwaZulu-Natal, said this problem was a common occurrence around the city and explained the phenomenon is not unusual.

“This normally happens when the tree is in fruit. Fruit bats have fantastic eyesight and see better than us at night. However, they do struggle with lighter coloured walls. What actually happens, after a bat takes off after having its fill they spot the wall at a later stage and defecate to lose weight so they can fly higher to avoid a collision. They are better at seed dispersal than most birds.

“What I would suggest is to install a floodlight, not an extremely bright one, but one that will illuminate the wall. That will help in eradicating the problem. The other thing to bear in mind is bat poo is acidic, so it’s best to use a paint where it’s easier to clean off this type of mess,” White said.

She urged residents with bat related problems to contact the Batline on 082 445 0585.