Great performance
Many storks would be lost without Helmut!
So many animals owe their lives to the stork station in Tillmitsch. Today it opens its doors - behind them we can see what is being done there!
Felix, Annalena, Emil and Hans perch in the nest with their legs bent at the typical stork angle, munching on chicken meat with relish and making soft "cooing" noises from time to time. They do this when they feel comfortable. And they do. Because they have survived.
Ten little aardvarks that would have died without Helmut Rosenthaler; he even took one of them out of the egg himself because the shell was too hard for the tiny baby. And every single life is the greatest joy for the Styrian - even after the 30 years that the now 81-year-old has been looking after the stork station, during which he has rescued hundreds of protégés. This year, he and his wonderful team have a record number of chicks - because unfortunately this is also a horrendous year for the chattering favorites. "Almost half of all the babies have died," says the expert sadly.
The severe storms were to blame. "At some point, the parents are simply no longer able to keep the little ones warm and dry. Many also drown because the eyrie is like a hollow." Some of the babies have lost their parents. Through gunshots or poison from animal abusers, traffic accidents, broken necks on house walls. Or they have starved to death because there was not enough food to be found: the stork family needs 300 kilograms of food - mice, snakes and beetles are on the menu - before the young are out of the nest.
The storks' nests are protected
In Rein (GU), on the other hand, the helpless little ones were attacked so violently by other storks that one was killed; Rosenthaler and his team were able to rescue the second. Christopher is alive!
Rosenthaler has already been out dozens of times this year, including to repair nests and install new ones. He emphasizes that nobody is allowed to remove one! Only in exceptional cases with permission - and then only after a new one has been put up in the immediate vicinity!
An eyrie can weigh up to 500 kilos. One of these is on the roof of the station - and dad Toni and mom Pauline proudly pose in it with their babies. Since this year there is a camera - and it transmits the pictures worldwide. With enormous success! There have been 21,700 hits since the end of May, and after Austria and Germany, it is the Americans who are getting to know the beautiful municipality of Tillmitsch from the stork's perspective! Rosentaler: "I am touched by this. Because the great interest shows that we are returning to nature." The village can be proud of this station - even if some of the hunters unfortunately don't see it that way!
The open day takes place today - after yesterday, once again, with a large crowd - from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Tillmitsch, Dorfstraße 104. Info: der-storchenvater.com. Donations are urgently needed: AT98 3820 6000 0003 7226
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