On their flight, the men left some of the picked mushrooms behind. About three kilos of honey mushrooms were found in bags. It is illegal to take things, but it is tolerated if people pick a few mushrooms for their own use.
“These involve small quantities,” explains forest ranger Mikal Folkertsma of Staatsbosbeheer, “so a maximum of 250 grams. But people would rather not do it at all.”
Besides the fact that picking disrupts the ecosystem, it is also not good for the animals in the forest. “The biggest problem is that the paths are left for picking, which disturbs the animals (deer, hares, pine martens, foxes) at their resting places in the forest.”
‘There are even deadly mushrooms among them’
Folkertsma continues: “If it is only picked along the paths, there will still be plenty of food left in the forest for the animals.” So it is allowed: “But we would prefer that people leave the mushrooms alone. Because you know, there are a lot of them really dangerous and even deadly mushrooms among them, such as the green tuber amanite and the panther amanite.”