Farmers seek to shoot potato-munching cranes
Published: 5 Sep 11 08:13 CET | Print version
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/35952/20110905/
Exasperated farmers in Jämtland in northern Sweden have grown so tired of their crops being destroyed by cranes that they have sought permission to shoot the endangered birds.
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So far, farmers have tried in vain to scare off the cranes with propane cannons and fireworks.
Potato crops in Orrviken are reported to be the current target of the cranes, who are picking off the sweet potatoes and any new potatoes that are pushing through the soil.
In nearby Ragunda the voracious birds have eaten up a harvest of 35 tonnes of barley.
As the birds are classified as an endangered species, it is very seldom that permission is granted to shoot them to control numbers.
The methods deployed to scare off the cranes have proved thus far to have only a short-term effect and the administration board has discussed the methods available for warding off the birds.
Local farmer Joakim Nordlund warned that even if permission were granted to shoot the cranes, it is not for certain that the crops will be protected.
"It is not enough just to shoot a few, so that is not a great alternative either," he said.
One alternative under discussion for next year is that some potatoes could be transported to where the birds nest in order to satisfy their hunger and keep them away from the fields.
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Surely it is not beyond the intelligence of us humans to figure out a way where we can at least live together with protected wild life.
After all, in Norway the Gov compensates Reindeer 'herders' for Deer lost to incredibly voracious....eagles?
However if they are they are that many as to cause significant crop-loss, i don't think these pests are :endangered"
I mean us normal folks also need to move if we find a job in another part of the country.
Or indeed subsidize them a bit....it is not that subsidies are strange to farmers anyway.
Starting to shoot endangered birds seems all a bit ridiculous....not something a normal person would do.
:-)
Just thought one might go down nicely for Sunday lunch with Yorkshire pudding and three veg.
Only asking like. lol.