Canton Zug, 14.05.2020
More than 70 wildlife reports have already been received
The new animal observation platform has received a particularly high number of notifications since its introduction. "More than 70 wildlife observations have already been recorded in the canton of Zug. This figure is very high when we consider that zug.wildenachbarn.ch was only launched a few days before the lockdown," says wildlife biologist Anouk Taucher in a press release.
This is probably due to the fact that people are more attentive to nature at the moment and are staying at home in the garden or in nature more than usual. The wildlife biologist and her colleagues from the Swild Wildlife Research Community in Zurich are not assuming that more wild animals than usual have ventured into the cities in recent weeks. Adaptations of wild animals to changing environmental conditions do not normally occur within a few days or weeks. "But we can well imagine that, after six months of quarantine, for example, wild animals would show up more and more during the day," says Taucher.
Additional "Looking for hedgehogs" program in Cham
In addition to the "Wild Neighbours Zug" (Wilde Nachbarn Zug) project, Cham is also running the "Looking for hedgehogs" focus programme. Hedgehog data is systematically collected in Cham. The project can still be carried out despite Corona, in compliance with the instructions and safety recommendations of the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH), writes the municipality in a statement. "We have found 20 volunteers in Cham who are taking part in the project and are ready to go. The project will start In June 2020," says Manuela Hotz, Environmental Project Manager for the of the community of Cham.
Photo 1: A young fox hides in the undergrowth.
Photo 2: A hedgehog "tracking tunnel"
"The volunteers move around alone or as a pair, and look after around ten tracking tunnels on six freely selectable, consecutive days. These are fitted with paint and paper strips and are placed in private gardens and green areas. If a hedgehog passes through such a tracking tunnel, it leaves its paw prints behind. This makes it visible where hedgehogs are on the move," explains Hotz. She will be happy to answer further questions about the project by phone or e-mail (Manuela Hotz, tel. 041 723 87 77, manuela.hotz@cham.ch).
The population provides help
As part of the "Wild Neighbours Zug" project, the organisers are also interested in hedgehog observations from all over the canton of Zug. Projects such as "Wild Neighbours Zug" and the priority program "Looking for hedgehogs", are classic "Citizen Science Projects", in which the population helps to collect data. They thereby make an important contribution to finding out what the situation is with the wild animal populations in the municipalities of the canton of Zug, says the statement.
"The protection of species offers a lot of potential for the involvement of the population," says Stefan Rey, Project Manager for Species Protection in the canton of Zug. All the data from the projects is also fed into the national database and is made available to the authorities, active nature conservation circles and the interested population.
The website can be found at https://zug.wildenachbarn.ch