Activists now hope – will the field hamster “Ferdl” now stop the S34?

For weeks the opponents of the Traisental highway, still not completely wiped out, roamed the fields in Völtendorf near St. Pölten. Then an activist saw a hole in the ground, but at first not a single hamster looked out. But patience was rewarded: One morning “Ferdl”, as he was baptized, stuck his head out. Professional wildlife photographer Benedikt Reiser pressed the button at the right time – ever since, he’s been a “local hero” just like the adorable four-legged friend.

“The concrete workers will have to break their teeth over our protégé. Because this species is protected under the EU Fauan Flora Habitats Directive, including construction. So no strip of asphalt in a slimmed-down form may be laid here,” exults the dedicated S-34 opponent Elisabeth Prochaska. It also relies on a ruling by the ECJ from Sweden, where a lack of protection for protected animals had recently led to a conviction. Back to “Ferdl” and his ilk, who probably also dug their burrows at Völtendorf: For them, the fragmentation of their habitat and the devastating covering of the bottom would mean certain death.

“Land has not responded to invitations!”
As reported, the search for land-friendly alternatives (a simple city street that at least some farmers could live with, and the extension of the railway into the Traisental) began after the fiercely contested four-lane highway was closed. Minister Leonore Gewessler deplores the “Krone” that the state of Lower Austria has not yet responded to one of the invitations for talks.