As in the pampas in South America: Germany’s wild countryside animals feel right at home. They have multiplied so much that they can now be hunted. The population is now considered stable.
Their habitat is the South American pampas – but thousands of kilometers from their natural distribution area, the rhea (Rhea americana) has found a new home in northern Germany. The populations of Lake Ratzeburg on the borders of the states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Schleswig-Holstein are the only ones in the wild in Europe. At last count the end of October, 144 animals were discovered in the fields and meadows of the region, Schwerin’s Environment Ministry announced on Friday. This was more than 13 in the spring and 23 more than in the fall of 2021. The reckoning is done twice a year.
Minister Til Backhaus (SPD) said the figures showed that stocks of the species had been secured in the distribution area. All the animals are descended from a handful of specimens that escaped from a private enclosure near Gross-Gronau on Lake Ratzburg in Schleswig-Holstein at the turn of the millennium. Until 2019, the animals multiplied unchecked, due to the lack of natural enemies. Northern German winters could not harm them, and young rapeseeds became their favorite food in farmers’ fields. The damage increased and the cultivators were finally allowed to shoot the Nando.
The record 566 rhea were counted in the fall of 2018, and the first animals were allowed to be killed the following year. According to the ministry, 179 ray were killed in the first full hunting year from April 2020 to March 2021. In the ensuing hunting year, there were only 79. Locals have reported that the animals have become more shy since they were hunted.
According to the ministry, the Nandu is one of more than 1,000 new organisms in Germany – species that came to Europe after Christopher Columbus arrived in America in 1492. This also includes species such as fallow deer, raccoon, mink, kuyo, pheasant, and rainbow trout. (dpa)
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