Animals
Nabu: Rubber bands in organic waste as a deadly hazard for storks
According to the Nabu Nature Conservation Union, a deadly amount of around 600 grams of rubber bands was found in the stomach of a young stork from Bad Dürrenberg. photo
© Karsten Peterlein/NABU Leipzig
Rubber bands can be fatal – at least for storks. They mistake them for earthworms and eat them. How can that be?
A young stork in Saxony-Anhalt had 300 rubber bands in its stomach. He died – and is not an isolated case. To protect the The Nature Conservation Union (Nabu) has called on storks to be more careful when disposing of rubber bands – and under no circumstances to put them in the organic waste with cut flower residues, for example.
The animals think the rubbers are earthworms and take them as supposed food, as the animal rights activists announced on Friday. Accordingly, the storks often die as a result.
Two young storks from Bad Dürrenberg in Saxony-Anhalt died after being fed rubber bands by their parents for weeks. One of the animals had 300 rubber bands weighing 600 grams in its stomach. A third animal from the nest has disappeared.
The Nabu is trying to find out where the rubber bands come from and already has initial findings: they were found in organic waste bins in the town of Bad Dürrenberg. It is very likely that the rubber from the organic bins will end up in nature via composting plants, it said.
Not only private households, but also supermarkets, weekly markets, greengrocers, flower shops and farmers could be the cause. When goods bundled with rubber, such as cut flowers or radishes, are disposed of, or when they are bundled, the rubber ends up in organic waste on farmland, it was said.