Worrying – Increasing Disturbance: Wild Animals Become Nocturnal

In Switzerland, in some cantons, entire forest areas have already been closed to recreational athletes, so that the game can rest. This is not a requirement of the Styrian state yacht master, but: “We absolutely have to come up with more ideas to control the flow of visitors,” says Franz Mayr-Melnhof. “And learn to respect nature and animals again. In the most remote areas there are already no possibilities to retreat and leisure activities are already taking on an excess.”

“Thought a plane landed on the ridge”
In the evening on his way home from the Hochstand, he himself made this absurd remark: “I really thought that a plane landed on the ridge! Because there was such an extremely bright light. But it turned out that an athlete with a headlamp on path. That happens more and more.”

Deer behave “completely atypical”
And it also disrupts nature at night, forcing wild animals – whose habitat is already severely limited – to adapt their behavior to that of humans. Mayr-Melnhof: “All over the world we are seeing a phenomenon that has never existed before. Roe deer, for example, do their activities, such as grazing or resting, for which they usually move from the forest to the meadow, quite atypically during the nighttime hours. There, where they so often find no rest during the day. That should give us all food for thought.”