Ra'anana residents driven batty by solution to bat problem

By MIRIAM BULWAR DAVID-HAY (TRANSLATED)
Residents of Ra'anana's Rehov Schwartz who complained to the city about bats in the trees outside their windows are furious that the city has responded by saying it will cut down the trees, reports www.mynet.co.il. The residents say the city could solve the bat problem in several other ways, and there is no need to chop down the large, shady trees, some of which are more than 50 years old. According to the report, the residents have been complaining about the many bats that gather in the treetops to eat the fruit growing there, saying their noise and mess are driving them to frustration. "The city has found the easiest system, simply to chop down the trees," one angry resident said. "It looks as though they don't want to invest money to solve the problem of the bats." The resident said there were two "reasonable, logical and clever" ways in which the city could solve the problem without chopping down the trees: either by injecting the trees with hormones that would cause the fruit to fall off, or by adding street lighting that would scare the bats away. Other residents said there was no need to chop down the trees entirely, and they could simply be trimmed. One resident said that if the trees were going to be cut down, this should not occur in summer, when the trees provide much-needed shade. A municipal spokesman said the city had decided to cut down a number of trees in Rehov Schwartz and adjoining streets following complaints by residents and damage caused by the creatures. The spokesman said the city was "acting out of a commitment to preserve the quality of life of residents."