storm
After the flood: Hunters find numerous dead deer
Hunter Lothar Häseker drags a deer that died in flooding across a field. photo
© Sina Schuldt/dpa
The flood situation has eased and the water levels are receding. The carcasses of many deer and rabbits that have died now appear. But it’s not just the water that’s to blame.
Lothar Häseker, a hunter in Etelsen in the Verden district, recently found five dead deer in a field. “They had retreated to an access road where they were left dry,” he reports. Such paths next to the flooded meadows and fields are the few areas where the animals can recover.
But then walkers disturbed the five deer – they fled into the frozen field, broke through the thin ice and died. In Häsekers and the neighboring district alone, 22 dead deer have already been found. He assumes that the number will increase because many areas have not yet been searched.
Hunter complains about inconsiderate walkers
Ultimately, the problem is not the flood, but the behavior of onlookers and walkers who behaved inconsiderately towards the wild animals. He is very angry about it, says Häseker. And steward Dahlweg appeals: Dogs should stay on a leash near flooded fields and meadows.
“The extent of the flood caught us all very unprepared,” says Antje Dahlweg. Roads and paths on the edge of flood areas were not closed quickly enough to allow wildlife to use them as refuges. The hunting community is working on a concept so that the necessary measures can be implemented more quickly by the responsible institutions in the future.