If farmers now mow the tall grass, fawns live particularly dangerous. The mower becomes a death trap for the young animals. How can they be saved?
Photo: archive photo Herbert Ehehalt
It is a dangerous time for Bambis. Because the first forage harvest of the year on the meadows coincides with the setting time of deer, young rabbits and meadow breeders. In May and June, the fawns are born and placed in the tall grass by their mother, because they think their offspring are safe there. Their instinctive survival strategy, the so-called “pushing”, protects fawns and young rabbits from their natural enemies, such as foxes and birds of prey, but not from the rotary mower. If that glides across the meadow, it becomes life-threatening for the young animals.
Rescued two dozen fawns
How can the young fawns be saved? In the previous year, the BJV district group Würzburg, in cooperation with the district association Würzburg in the Bavarian Farmers’ Association (BBV), broke new ground for the first time in rescuing young people from the death trap. A drone equipped with a thermal imaging camera was used. Many animals were found in the grass and saved. There were more than two dozen in about ten uses of the drone.
Michael Hein, chairman of the Würzburg district group in the State Hunting Association, hopes that the successful premiere will now be followed by a hopefully even more intensive use of the offer. Especially since the fawn rescue in the six BJV communities of the BJV district group is completely free of charge for hunting tenants and farmers. “It is part of our active contribution to animal and species protection. However, we are grateful for a donation,” said Hein.
Photo: Herbert Ehehalt
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For the first time this year, the drone was used in a district in Höchberg a few days ago. The farmer had announced the mowing to the tenant for four meadows. At dawn the next morning, the drone flew over the clover patches to find fawns. This required a pilot, at least one observer and two search helpers to be organized by the tenant. When the ambient temperature is as low as possible, the drone scans the desired area from a height of around 20 meters, at a speed of up to three meters per second.
Footprints are also visible in the thermal image
“The lower the temperature of the soil layer, the more contrast the color image transferred to the control screen appears,” explains pilot Ralf Kuckertz. Heat sources, even those from beehives, or even human footprints, become clearer. “If a fawn is located using the thermal imager, the search helpers are directed to the berth by radio, pick it up and put it down outside the mowing area. It is imperative to ensure that this happens without direct physical contact with people. Because: If a fawn takes on the smell of human beings, it is usually rejected by the mother and must therefore starve.
An urgent request: keep dogs on a leash
Experts estimate that around 100,000 fawns are brutally mutilated or killed each year during the first grassland mowing. The problem: the instinct to flee still present in young animals does not allow them to flee even in the event of great danger. In accordance with their innate protective behavior, they instinctively push themselves into their hiding place. This is how the young animals behave when they are tracked down by a free-running dog. That is why the hunting tenants are now making their urgent appeal to dog owners to walk their four-legged friends on a leash.
Contact to Ralf Kuckertz: 0171 8092886 or email: [email protected] and www.jagd-wuerzburg.de/willkommen/kitzrettung
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Wurzburg
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Herbert marriage stop
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Conservation
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Farmers’ associations
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Bavarian Farmers’ Association
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cruelty
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Dog owner
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Hunting tenant
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District associations
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State hunting associations
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risk of death
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Animals and wildlife
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