News Damage
Goose food in expensive grass noose for Faunafonds
The damage caused by wild geese to agricultural crops has increased by about €5 million to €36,7 million in the past damage year. This is evident from figures that AT12, published by the executive office of the joint provinces. Goose eating in expensive grass was a big part.
The vast majority of damages, nearly €31,5 million, went to compensation to farmers to buy new grass, because geese had eaten the land bare and/or contaminated it with manure. By far the most damage is caused by all kinds of geese, with the greylag goose causing the most problems. Last year, the Fauna Fund had to pay a total of €29,5 million in goose damage.
These amounts do not only concern direct damage to crops, as a result of which the yield is disappointing or lost. The compensation paid should also be able to pay for any purchase of new animal feed or other crops. The worldwide price increases for animal feed therefore also affect the amount of damage paid. For example, the price for grass rose from 2021 to 27 cents per kilo in 29, according to BIJ12.
A lot of commotion, few benefits for wolf
The Faunafonds has registered a total of more than 550 attacks on livestock by suspected wolves. Of these, 128 have been registered up to and including the first week of May. These wolf attacks caused a lot of publicity, but led to just $46.093 in claims last year. However, this amount may have been negatively affected by the relatively cumbersome procedure to determine whether it was indeed an attack by a wolf. This requires, among other things, visual material and DNA samples. There is soon three months involved before compensation for the damage can be given.
Klaas van der Horst
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