ONE has to feel sorry for the landholders who have this flying fox colony that is sucking the life out of the trees and virtually holding them hostage in their own homes.

I think that these people deserve a medal for having to put up with the constant noise, smell and destruction.

I’m wondering what happens if or when the deadly Hendra virus rears its ugly head in the Tamworth region?

K Morrison of Kootingal (The NDL, letters, Thursday, June 25) hit the nail right on the head with the idea of getting a 12-gauge into them. Many of us were thinking the same thought.

One would like to see these so-called flying fox lovers move in with some of these landholders for a week and live like a captive. See what it’s like to not be able to go outside when you want, or to not be able to drink your own tank water for fear of what’s in that water.

It’s all those everyday things that we take for granted.

All because of what’s hanging upside-down outside.

It’s all good and well to float the suggestion of cutting down the trees along the river, but how far will one have to go, and what about the preservation of the riverbanks?

These flying foxes should have been forced to move on when they first arrived, instead of waiting. The numbers have skyrocketed and they are spreading further along the Peel River. This problem is going to be virtually impossible now.