THEY have urinated and defecated on people, spoiled residents' tank water supplies and stripped trees in a park that was once Singleton's "jewel in the crown".
Now the grey-headed flying foxes, or the bats of Burdekin Park, have forced residents to remove fruit trees from their backyards.
The flying foxes have plagued Singleton people for the past seven years, but no one more so than Les Shilton, who has exhausted all possibilities to try to rid the town's centre of the flying foxes.
Mr Shilton has tried using unmuffled lawn mowers, starter pistols and chainsaws to drive the animals out of the park but has failed.
He said the "bats" were running out of food after the recent hot dry spell killed off a lot of trees in the Upper Hunter.
"Now they are eating fruit trees," he said.
He said that with their food supply dwindling, some of the flying foxes were leaving the park during the day but returning at night to roost.
"No one here has a problem with bats, they are just too close to the people," Mr Shilton said.
"You can't leave the washing out or your car at night because they defecate on everything.
"It's just become ridiculous with people resorting to cutting down their fruit trees. So many have been cut down it's not funny."
Singleton councillor Lyn MacBain reported to council officers that some residents said the flying foxes were roosting in trees on their properties and that residents feared the impacts on their families and properties.
Council officers said they inspected the houses surrounding Burdekin Park and could not see any flying foxes roosting outside the park boundaries.
However, they confirmed flying foxes might visit residents' trees at night to feed on fruit or flower nectar.
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