The municipality of Groningen wants to treat animals as fellow residents and therefore not kill them, unless there is absolutely no other option. This means that from now on the mole is safe on (or under) municipal land.
Molehills. Some people go crazy because they ruin a beautiful lawn or cause you to trip. And it makes the other person happy, because it is a sign of healthy soil. Moles only live in places where it is nice to stay.
But happy or not, get used to it. The municipality of Groningen will no longer collect moles in public spaces. Although this means that cycle and walking paths may subside and municipal lawns may look less attractive, but residents of the municipality have to make do with that.
‘Learn to live with moles’
“Where we previously used mole traps to combat serious nuisance caused by moles, we will stop killing moles,” the mayor and aldermen write in a letter to the municipal council. Instead, residents must learn to live with moles and therefore accept some inconvenience.
“The world does not belong only to people,” explains councilor Kirsten de Wrede (Party for the Animals). “Moles, like other animals, are individuals who have the right to live, reside and move. We have to get rid of the automatic behavior that when an animal species bothers us, our first choice is to kill it.”
The coalition of GroenLinks, Labor Party, Party for the Animals, SP and Christian Union attaches great importance to animal welfare. In the coalition agreement, animals are recognized as beings with their own intrinsic value and are seen as co-inhabitants.
According to De Wrede, a mole in your garden or neighborhood is not a bad thing, but actually a good thing. The tunnels they make provide more air in the soil and better drainage. “They keep the soil healthy and catch insects and mice, thus keeping the ecosystem in balance. You can divide the sand and place seeds in it. This produces flowers that are beautiful to look at and are good for the bees.”
Two exceptions
The municipality of Groningen does make two exceptions. If you, as a mole, come near a sports field or cemetery, it is still your turn. The municipality does not want grave monuments to sag crookedly, a cemetery to look untidy or sports fields to be rejected because they are unsafe. The municipality continues to use mole clamps there.
Isn’t there an animal-friendly method to keep moles away? Yes: mole mesh. This is dug vertically into the soil around the area that needs to be protected. But the municipality of Groningen thinks this is too expensive and because of pipes and cables it is not possible everywhere. ‘This should only be considered when constructing new sports fields or cemeteries.’
Over the next two years, Groningen will keep track of the damage caused by the moles. Depending on the financial consequences this will have, the policy will be evaluated. Residents of the municipality of Groningen are still allowed to call a mole catcher for their own property.
The mole is not the only animal species that is getting more space in Groningen, says De Wrede. “For example, we try to move rooks by letting them nest somewhere else. We have moved woodlice that entered our building due to the drought back to the green roof, we have banned the hunting of foxes and we are moving wasp nests.”
What is a molehill?
A mole digs tunnels underground. The sand from those tunnels is pushed up, creating a molehill. The deeper the mole digs, the higher the molehill. In the winter period the molehills are always larger than in the summer. The cold temperatures make them dig deeper tunnels. In summer, moles sit more shallowly.
The soil in a molehill can also be good for the garden. It is very fertile soil, because it comes from deep underground. It contains no weeds and generally fewer pathogens.