The municipality of Laarbeek is not allowed to move a number of rook nests in the Schoolstraat in Beek en Donk. The Fauna Protection believes that the protected birds should be left alone and the court ruled in the right.
“They shit everything, scream all day when they’re awake and people slip on the shit they leave on the street,” say residents of Schoolstraat. “Since trees were felled on the IJsweg, the rooks have built nests here in the street,” one of them reports. Nests can still be seen in the tops of the trees along the street in some places. “The rooks have a good place here and enough to eat, so you won’t lose them just like that.”
To tackle the nuisance of the rooks, the municipality wanted to move the abandoned nests outside the breeding season. Back to the IJsweg was the plan. According to the municipality’s Rook Protection Plan, the move would not lead to a deterioration in the conditions and conservation of the rook.
“They eat up all my little bird feeder”
The court thinks otherwise. He thinks that Laarbeek should protect the animals. The rook is having a hard time in the Netherlands, the number of rooks in the province of North Brabant has almost halved in recent years. The Court in preliminary relief proceedings finds that the Board has insufficiently demonstrated that moving will not lead to a deterioration of the condition and the conservation of the bird population.
The neighborhood mainly fears the nuisance that will continue. “Some people can’t sleep because of the noise the rooks make,” says a resident. “They really make a lot of noise, especially in the breeding season.” A neighbor across the street also prefers to lose the birds. “All the wagons are completely covered in shit. They also eat my entire feeder for small birds empty. But we can’t get rid of it.” A neighbor a few doors away doesn’t know it’s a protected bird. “I thought there were an awful lot of them. And they also look alike, those crows, rooks, ravens and jackdaws,” he says laughing. “It’s certainly not my favorite bird, I’d rather see a goldfinch.”