Thursday, September 07, 2006

Bats no match for fruit bazooka

I've remembered that some teenagers were in court not too long ago, on charges of shooting at bats. At the time I thought to myself, "Way to go, guys". Found this article about it on the internet.

Bats no match for fruit bazooka [Ka-Poom! Ka-Poom! squeak...squeak...Ka-Poom!]

From: AAP By Catherine Best
June 28, 2006

THREE mischievous teenagers used a fruit-firing bazooka in a Melbourne park, endangering a colony of protected bats, a court was told today.

The trio used the 2m homemade weapon to fire oranges at a colony of grey-headed flying foxes at Yarra Bend Park, in Melbourne's east.

But the shots were heard by a group of golfers who dobbed the young men in.

The teenagers sat sheepishly in Heidelberg Magistrates Court today as their solicitor Andrew Robinson pleaded with the magistrate to let them off lightly, saying: "Boys do what boys do."

....

Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE) prosecutor Richard Desmond told the court the offenders made an "orange gun" using a length of PVC pipe, with a range of 10m.

The weapon, filled with butane gas from hairspray, was loaded with oranges, ignited and fired three or four times at Yarra Bend Park as a "test" on December 8 last year.

12 comments:

Susie said...

"gray headed flying foxes" are the same as bats I gather?
Sounds like these boys were quite inventive..
I had no idea some bats were endangered!

Annette said...

Backyard Ballistics tells in detail how to build that kind of a cannon. I gave that book to my nephew for his 14th birthday this year.

Annette

Val said...

Sue, that's the thing, they're NOT endangered, not when one colony number in the tens of thousands. Yes, they're commonly called bats but the proper name for this lot is flying fox.

Annette, was the book put to, ahem, practical use?

Robert said...

This whole bat theme encouraged me to do some internet research on bats! Val, the largest ones live in Australia! There is one species that has a 79 inch wingspan.

Also, bat research helped medical science develop anti-coagulant drugs as well as blood products. Bats were the inspiration for radar and many sonar devices that aid the blind. I suppose this compensates for the fact they can carry rabies.

Knowing this, would I mind living near or around bats. Of course I would!

Annette said...

LOL, Val!

Well, my sister's husband is a combat vet Marine from the Vietnam War, so if the book hasn't been put to good use yet, it will be by my brother in law! He likes to blow things up.

Diane@Diane's Place said...

Still battling the bats,I see. :-)

I'm going to be gone camping again this weekend but I'm putting up my Sunday Dinner post. I thought you might like to know that the recipe for the biscuits you commented about (the ones on my Sunday Dinner button) is on my recipe blog, and I have a link to it on my post for you and anyone else who might be interested.

Take care and have a great weekend, Val. :-)

Val said...

Robert, I hadn't realised that bats have come in useful. Like you, though, I do not like them in my back yard.

Thanks, Diane, I will go get that recipe now. They sure look yummy in the photo.

Tanya said...

Well, you know I can't comment on your bat posts because we have to agree to disagree on how adorable they are :)

But I must say that I've thought of your comment about taking leave as part of your retirement. My dad did that, and my boss is planning to do that soon too. But for me - I'm so far off retirement (and that's not because I'm young, it's because I was a bum for so long!!) that I can't do that. And management starts getting mad if you don't take time off and accumulate too much leave. Can you believe that?? I agree, we have pretty good conditions in Australia (and even better when working for the government in regional Queensland). And really, if this was my biggest dilemma life would be all peaches and cream :)

Anonymous said...

Hi Val ~~ Sorry your bats are still a nuisance in your back yard. There should not be books available that tell
kids how to make dangerous things.
Thanks for your comment, I really like that quote about looking together in the same direction. (I have it on my fridge). Take care, my friend, Merle.

Lori said...

Thank you for this post. I had no idea that bats were so useful.

Sandy Hatcher-Wallace said...

79 inch wingspan? No wonder you want to get rid of them!! It wouldn't take many bat wings to make a beach umbrella. You never told us how BIG they were.
I always thought you were talking about those cute little bats, like we have.

Kerri said...

Just what we need...young inventors, or experimentors.
I'll bet the judge got a kick out of that one :)
On a field trip with my son's class years ago we listened to a fellow give a wonderful talk about bats. I had a new respect for them after hearing what he had to say. The kind we have really do clean up millions of pesky insects, like mosquitoes, for us.
But I wouldn't want your flying foxes in our yard!!!