Clear-cutting on stream banks

Nature paradise brutally cut to (eco-)death

Bare, bareer, bareest - the cleared floodplain on the Schwechat(Bild: zVg/PN)

Once again, a kingfisher paradise in the wide open countryside has been cleared regardless of losses. As a result, wild animals are losing important retreat and breeding grounds.

The waves of outrage over the clearing of a meadow along the Pielach river in the district of St. Pölten have not yet subsided (as reported by Die Krone), but the rampage of axes and chainsaws in another region is already causing horror. Affected this time: A previously untouched natural paradise near the Schwechat Bridge - better known as the "Rutschenbrücke" - between Laxenburg and Münchendorf in the district of Mödling.

Conservationists are shocked
 "This area has been a breeding ground and refuge for ducks, pheasants, partridges and hares for years. The bird of the year, the teal, was also at home here. Since this action by the water management association, the embankment has been dead despite our efforts to create retreat areas for small game," laments game warden Peter Neuberger. What particularly shocks him and the other hunters and conservationists is that neither the right nor the left side of the stream has been spared from the intervention. However, he emphasizes that the farmers "have nothing to do with the matter". Clear criticism of the perpetrators, on the other hand: "Everyone talks about biodiversity, but for those responsible, these are just empty words."