The Beech marten is a protected species, but also a nuisance for Drents residents
Beech martens are not very popular in the village of Nieuw Roden, Drenthe. The adorable little predator has a protected status, but is causing so much inconvenience that the residents are asking for extra measures to be taken.
Recently, the animal seems to appear more and more in the village. Consequences include damage to homes, cars, and nuisances to pets.
Last week a Beech marten managed to get into a chicken coop in the village. The chickens did not survive the attack. According to former city councilor Pierre Berghuis, the municipality should do more to prevent the animal from being an inconvenience, reports RTV Drenthe.
“The animal causes so much nuisance and damage in the village that you can ask yourself if it is allowed to wear the protected status. A better option would be to regulate the number of Beech martens: map out how many there are and try to control them. Currently, the municipality is hiding behind national legislation, but the economic damage is so great that the municipality must do something about it, “says Berghuis. He himself lost some 40 pigeons to the Beech marten some time ago.
In Nieuw-Roden, the animals mainly cause problems with cars, houses and other pets. According to pest controller Henk Hoekstra, people can do (or have done) a lot to limit nuisance. “Prevention is the best way to stop the animal. Close up your house, so to speak, so that it cannot come in. Of course it has to be in a good way because ventilation has to continue. Once the animal is there and you build everything he breaks everything to get out again, and as far as cars are concerned, it’s best to have a special device built into the garage, which will send a power surge as soon as an animal gets under the car, but despite that, some people swear with an increased layer of chicken wire under the car”, he says.
Image: Martin the Beech Marten. Via Wikimedia user Iskulikov. License here.
