Since Friday, Noureddine Guerbati has set up his enclosures at Argoulets, in Toulouse. This “urban” shepherd is at the head of a herd of 98 ewes which they let graze in a green space of seven hectares, between ring road and sports grounds. “Ecograzing is a way to bring the countryside closer to the city, it’s therapy. At the same time, it is a way to reduce the use of machines and to clear brush in an ecological way”, explains the man from Ardèche who takes the time to discuss with walkers.
He who exercises one of the oldest professions in the world is hired by a company specializing in these mowers on legs, without the noise of the engine, which has signed a contract with the town hall, and will be present until July 1. Since 2017, the Pink City has been using this ancestral method to weed this large natural space in the city for 20,000 euros. “It’s a different way of seeing green spaces, more ecological. Sheep fertilize the soil and have a much better carbon footprint than tools,” explains Clément Riquet, municipal councilor responsible for gardens, green spaces and biodiversity.
While pesticides are now banned in the city, the use of animals is more and more frequent. This is the case in municipal greenhouses where lacewings or even parasitoid wasps are used to control aphids as part of integrated biological control.
European falcon and bee-eater to the rescue
But this is not limited to the preservation of flora. For several months, the city services have called on a Gers ferret breeder to exterminate the places where rodents abound. “We establish geographical areas where he intervenes. It is a natural way to regulate, without using rat poison. This is the policy we are trying to develop. As soon as we have the opportunity to find such a solution, we do so. For example, a falconer is ready to intervene to hunt starlings the day we have colonies, in order to avoid having to use scaring shots, ”explains Françoise Ampoulange, elected in charge of the animal in the city.
As summer approaches, she is working on new methods to overcome two recurring nuisances: mosquitoes and Asian hornets. In addition to the ecological terminals which trap the first, the city has undertaken work to list the predatory birds of these two scourges. In particular swallows which can absorb up to 7,000 insects a day, in particular tiger mosquitoes. “We also have a couple of European bee-eaters who gave birth to three babies last year near Empalot. It’s the only one that eats the Asian hornet. For swallows, we are looking with the League for the Protection of Birds to see if there are enough of them or if they need to be recolonized,” continues Françoise Ampoulage.
And when there are no possible predators for the pests, there are other possibilities. Thus reducing the population of pigeons, a third contraceptive dovecote has just been built at La Faourette and another is in the pipes in the center of the Pink City.