Swan ban

Which wild animals are still allowed to be fed?

People like to feed swans. But it's better not to, otherwise it can be expensive.

(Bild: Scharinger Daniel)

Feeding prohibited - the Upper Austrian Hunting Act has been rewritten and anyone who wants to "spoil" wild animals with old bread rolls or similar is liable to prosecution. This applies in particular to swans in the lake area and in the Steyr-Land district. The ban applies to deer, ducks and swans. But what about blackbirds, finches and starlings?

"When I think back to my childhood, there were far more swans than there are now. There was definitely one difference: the meadows near the banks were unprofitable for the farmers and were not worked with heavy machinery or used for haymaking. I'm surprised that the banks are not leveled so that he can drive the tractor into the lake." - Reader "Lillith73" posted this critical comment on krone.at under our report on the strict ban on feeding swans, ducks and similar wild birds, which was written into the revised Upper Austrian Hunting Act.

The background to the ban on feeding wild animals is that they have often been fed very improperly by the public, for example with moldy bread. This is detrimental to the animals' health.

Christopher Böck, Geschäftsführer des Landesjagdverbands OÖ

Bild: (c)foto-kerschi.at werner-kerschbaummayr

For lawyers, the situation is clear
For lawyers, the situation is clear, but for laypeople it's a mystery: "So are we no longer allowed to feed songbirds? A lot of food falls from the feeders onto the ground, and pigeons and jackdaws are immediately there. And the jackdaws have unfortunately also learned to help themselves directly to the feeders," wonders a poster with the pseudonym "esregtmiauf".

Manuela Kopecky, a lawyer for hunting law in the Upper Austrian Department of Agriculture and Forestry and also a hunter herself, knows the answer: "Paragraph 4 lists the wild animals affected by the feeding ban in detail. In addition to wild pigeons, this also includes waterfowl such as greylag goose, mute swan and duck species. Garden birds are definitely not included."

"Garden birds are not included"
Lawyer Kopecky explains the background to the ban on feeding swans and ducks: "On the one hand, the animals do not receive food appropriate to their species, on the other hand, this creates an overpopulation and the animals that are used to humans can no longer be scared off."

"Ban makes sense"
Christopher Böck, wildlife biologist and Managing Director of the Upper Austrian Hunting Association, also emphasizes the usefulness of the feeding ban: "There are signs everywhere at the lakes stating that feeding is not allowed. Unfortunately, many people do not adhere to this. Such feeding concentrates too many swans in one place. This changes the natural distribution, these birds then eat meadows empty and defecate on everything."

Kommentar

Knödelbrot als „Corpus delicti“

"We used to take the dumpling bread from mom and then sell it to the tourists for feeding the swans" - a colleague from the lake district's eyes lit up at the editorial conference when he recalled his childhood pranks.

(Bild: Krone KREATIV, Alexander Schwarzl, Markus Wenzel)

Nowadays, only being underage would keep such child "dealers" out of jail, as there are draconian penalties for feeding swans. The state lawyers meant well with the threat of punishment - but they were very harsh.