The session at the Council of State is being led so tightly today by State Councilor Rosa Uylenburg that she limits the bathroom break halfway through to five minutes. And only if “you really have to”. A representative who changes his mind and gets up after two minutes will be warned. “Then you won’t be back in time.” Oh, she says, stunned, after which she sits down again. The chairman is in trouble.
The environmental movement’s fairly successful struggle against it Mute Swan Fauna Management Plan 2018-2024 of South Holland has been going on for about four years. In that plan, the province regulates very precisely when protected mute swans may be shot to protect agriculture against ‘eating’. But by Animal radar on Facebook Showing published images is absolutely not allowed today. The file and ‘the documents’ are the basis, nothing else. The USB stick is said to be a security risk, the giant screen in the hall remains black.
The representative of the Provincial Executive occasionally gets into trouble due to Uylenburg’s questions. “Didn’t the court see that very well before?” There are a number of experts in the room. Anyone who wants to say something that the state councilors already think they know is told that “we have read everything very carefully. This now only concerns our questions.” Pleadings may not exceed five minutes. The chairman demonstratively hands over late submitted documents, “that saves a stamp.”
Shotgun to the body
More than two years ago, the court in The Hague banned the province from shooting protected swans that devour sown fields. The damage would only occur in a limited number of areas. It was also a problem that among the mute swans there could also be the much more strictly protected little swan. The young birds are difficult to distinguish, especially during flight. The judge had to give South Holland better reasons for how it will disturb the little swan as little as possible, while at the same time “chasing away the mute swan with the gun”. Two-thirds of all the world’s little swans winter here – no small importance.
Is it possible to ‘selectively’ scare away swans – not hitting the little swan, but hitting the mute swan, at dusk, at some distance? The province “has no choice but to assume that it is possible.” The chairman wonders how the province reduces the chance of a little swan being shot. There’s something in there about that Fauna management plan? Especially now that there are clear indications that one in five little swans has shot in their body.
While the damage in the previous decade averaged around 10,000 euros annually, in 2019 it was already over 100,000 euros and is now expected to amount to 600,000 euros. Is the threat of damage sufficiently specific and how do you determine this? Could it be that dissatisfied farmers are claiming damages because they notice that hunting has come to a standstill?
Chasing and therefore irritating requires energy and leads to extra hunger – thus ‘grazing’ elsewhere and causing damage
Furthermore, the swan population appears to be virtually stable: how can the damage increase? Swans can also regroup and replenish the population by ‘extra breeding’. This issue is bound up in assumptions, speculations and traditions. Disturbing swans can also be counterproductive. Flying up always leads to settling down and ‘grazing’ elsewhere. Flying requires energy and therefore makes you extra hungry. Sloping can cause additional damage.
And why is swan hunting necessary in areas where there is ‘zero damage’? “Because damage can occur there,” says the province. The government wants to prevent farmers in an area where hunting does not take place from “experiencing inequality” compared to colleagues where hunting takes place. And why would the province allow shooting at all if there appears to be no connection between population size and damage? As the hearing continues, swan shooting appears to be an increasingly less plausible means of crop protection. Five months later the Department decides in favor of environmental organizations. The province prepared its approval decision carelessly and did not properly substantiate it. The possible accidental shooting of the little swan plays a role.