A small town in Australia has been overrun by an enormous colony of bats and frustrated residents have had enough of the annoying aerial invaders. The problem has reportedly been getting steadily worse over the last few weeks as the population of 'flying foxes' in the community of Ingham has grown to the point that experts believe that there are now around 300,000 of the creatures taking up residence there. To put that in some perspective, only approximately 4,500 people live in the town.
As one can imagine, the bat infestation has caused a slew of problems for the community. Since the creatures have seemingly taken a liking to gathering in the town's botanical garden, many of the trees at the site cannot handle the weight of all the animals and their limbs have begun snapping from the stress. Meanwhile, a rescue helicopter attempting to land at a hospital in the town recently had to be diverted because it would have flown into a proverbial cloud of bats had it continued on with its journey.
And, of course, with 300,000 of the creatures flying around each day, the ground below has become a veritable litter box to the point that local businesses and town workers are forced to clean up the bat droppings every morning. More on this rather nightmarish situation Down Under at the Coast to Coast AM website.