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The white
stork is one of the better known and more loved species among our people
because of their singular shape and thanks to the fact that storks have
always chosen human buildings to place their nests. As a result they
belong to our culture and are present in tales, songs and legends.
White stork
populations in Spain, the same as in the case of other protected species,
have gone through a difficult situation in the last few years, some of
them being in danger of extinction, mainly due to human reasons. |
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As workers for the study
and protection of this emblematic bird, we explained the decrease of its
population, among other reasons, by the loss of its feeding habitat and by
the elimination of its voluminous nests. The nests were taken away by the
owners of the buildings in which they were placed -mainly churches and
state buildings- due to the damages caused on roofs, pipes and façades.
That’s
why, people interested in recovering the white stork worked mainly in
their feeding areas and in making artificial nests. In the last few years
the population of white stork has risen drastically, being nowadays in no
danger.
Now the population remains
established, however there are still problems to solve. The large number
of storks is causing new problems in buildings. Therefore we keep on
working with the white stork in order to avoid a negative reaction from
the people who have been affected. This negative reaction would go against
white storks.
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However, even if stork populations have
experienced a spectacular growth, there are still problems which can
affect the recovering of this species and which, if not eliminated or
minimized, can put their populations at risk again. The main problems affecting storks are the
following: baling ropes which they take to their nests and affect
their chicks which accidentally tie their legs and necks around
them; electric laying in which they die from electric shocks and from
crashing into them; the ingestion of things which they pick up from the
rubbish dumps.
In the case of electric laying and in order
to avoid new cases of electric shocks, we are asking companies,
sometimes getting positive response, to perform some changes in the
problematic towers where stork deaths occur. With the aim of avoiding
damage by baling ropes, we are developing an informative campaign in
which we ask farmers and stock-breeders not to leave these ropes in the
fields but to deposit them in the village container.
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In order to
gain people’s sensitivity we perform several activities aiming at
informing about storks and their problems. Every year we celebrate a
welcome to storks in Tudela and Pamplona and all villages which ask for it. During this activity we
hand over pedagogical material and put at the audience’s disposal optic
tools for the observation of storks. For this kind of activity, and for
other activities involving environmental education related to storks, we
have school books, posters, leaflets and pedagogical panels.
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