So a few dozen wolves roam Switzerland. Doing their job as wolves, they devour a number of deer and deer in particular. Among other benefits and against their will, they disperse the herds of these herbivores, which allows young trees to develop less grazing.
At the same time, during the summer, they kill sheep, goats and some calves in the mountain pastures (who could resist a very full and open refrigerator?). Breeders are furious, they say it loud and clear, fear is spreading, debate is raging, breeders are compensated and the decision is to kill some wolves. Good.
“It’s disgusting, worrying in terms of health, it costs the affected municipalities a blindfold.”
Hundreds of rooks have invaded our cities for years (the Department of Works and the Environment of the city of Yverdon counted 443 nests on its territory in 2021, compared to 226 in 2014). Doing their work as crows, they build nests, lay eggs, feed their crows, all while emitting their cawing.
Despite themselves, they cover with their nasty droppings the surroundings of the trees where they set up their nests, sprinkling the area as a bonus with twigs and twigs that escape them during the construction of said nests. Also in Yverdon, in 2021, a daycare had to ban children from accessing its garden, the site being soiled by the droppings of guests from the plane tree overlooking the site. From Schaffhausen to Geneva, it is difficult to escape these bombings by passing under their dormitories.
It’s disgusting, worrying in terms of health, it costs the affected municipalities a blindfold. And at a time when noise is the center of attention, noisy beyond tolerable (up to 75 dB, according to the Swiss Ornithological Station), fraying the neighbors’ nerves. We cannot say that Cities do nothing. From sending a predatory raptor to using a drone or laser, they try to convince Corvus frugilegus to look elsewhere. But it does not work.
We can not do anything?
Because from mid-February to the end of July, during nesting, the bird is protected. We cannot, therefore, do anything, nor hunt them, nor destroy the nests, nor collect the eggs during this period, precisely when the inconveniences are the most important.
What’s wrong? Why shoot wolves, also protected, to “regulate” them, but whose damage affects only a small number of people, and not reduce the number of rooks that warm thousands of city dwellers? Is there a lack of a lobby that is quick to take a stand, like the farmers and hunters? Does Isengrin’s symbolic charge work against this? Are the municipal authorities responsible for cleaning the squeaky sidewalks not up to the task of environmental associations? Or have we lost our sense of priorities?
Gilles Simond collaborates with “24 heures” since 1989. He worked in the Sports section, the “24 Weekend” supplement and the Culture section, is currently responsible for the Reflections section, writes articles related to regional history and occasionally replaces the editor.
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– The wolf and the crows, a modern fable
Some protected animals can be “regulated”, others not, despite their serious inconveniences and abundance.