Water board Drents Overijsselse Delta sees that dikes are increasingly being damaged by dogs. During inspections this spring, excavation damage was found at 189 locations, which was caused by a dog. That happened 130 times the year before.
According to the water board, which manages the dikes from, say, Assen to Deventer, more mouse corridors are the cause of the higher number of excavation damage caused by dogs. The four-legged friends smell or hear the mice that hide in the dike. Then they start digging. “More mice can therefore lead to more digging by dogs,” says dike manager Wijnand Evers.
Contrary to the dig-happy dogs, muskrats were a lot more sedentary. Last spring, the water board counted excavation damage caused by the rodent at fifteen locations, but that number has now been reduced to five. Six years ago there were even 390. Excavation damage caused by the beaver was found at four locations.
Every year, the water board checks the dikes for damage, both in spring and autumn. In the working area of WDODelta, there are more than 1000 kilometers of dikes. In the spring it is examined how the dikes have survived the winter period, in the autumn how they will enter the winter period. This way any damage can be repaired in time.
The inspections started early this spring period, the water board reports. Inspectors went out in mid-March to check the condition of the dikes. The turf is an important measure of the quality of the dikes. Roots of grass, herbs and plants hold the soil firmly together.