THE PROJECT HAS NOW BEEN STOPPED!
Universität für Bodenkultur Wien
University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Science Department für Integrative Biologie
Institut
für Wildbiologie und Jagdwirtschaft (IWJ)
Univ.Prof.
Dipl.Biol. Dr.rer.nat. Klaus Hackländer
Wien,
09. Juni 2005
Cancellation of Ecological Dietary Study of the Marsh Harrier
The Institute for Game Biology and Hunting Management of the University of Natural Resources and Applied
Life Science Department for Integrated Biology (BOKU) in Vienna was commissioned to carry out an ecological dietary study
of the influence of the Marsh Harrier on small game (e.g. hare and partridge).
Misleading and confused media statements have led to the false project being falsely represented both
nationally and internationally. This development has distressed me personally a great deal as the project was only intended
to be a fundamental contribution to biology and the protection of this species. In order to prevent the reputation of the
BOKU being damaged undeservedly, as well as my that of my institute and my colleagues,
I herewith declare the abandonment of my planned ecological dietary study of the Marsh Harrier inn Lower Austria.
Klaus
Hackländer
Director
IWJ
Universität für Bodenkultur Wien
University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Science Department für Integrative Biologie
And a personal mail to Proact:
Dear colleagues,
My name is Klaus Hackländer. I was blamed to be responsible for the killing of Marsh harriers in Austria,
which was the origin of your campaign against me. I am a conservationist, member of Birdlife Germany for more than 20 years,
founder of two young-birder-clubs and won several prizes for conservation. The press release of WWF Austria was a defaming
and misleading nonsense. Due to the fact that you have posted the WWF Austria press release on your homepage there was the
threat that the reputation of my person, my institute and the university would get damaged. I know have stopped my aim to
work on the harriers and I asked you to stop the campaign against me. I hope that not all campaigns on you site are based
on weak press releases.
All the best,
Klaus Hackländer
A massive assault on a rare Austrian breeding raptor species
Background
The shooting
of 48 Marsh Harriers every year for three years – a bloody total if the plan of the BOKU (the University of Natural
Resources and Applied Life Sciences, Vienna) is carried out under the guise of a scientific project! BirdLife, WWF Austria
and other organisations in Austria are appalled and are calling for an immediate stop
to the project.
The aim of the
project is (ostensibly) to “register the effect of the Marsh Harrier on small game” by shooting almost half the
recorded breeding population over the next 3 years to determine their diet by examining stomach content.
WWF Austria
states “This project is in reality an eradication programme; carrying out a research project on an endangered species
by killing it in large numbers is a step back into the scientific Stone Age”. In addition the shooting of the birds
during the breeding season, where the death of young birds through starvation is a likely consequence, has nothing to do with
the hunting principles so highly regarded and proclaimed by hunting organisations.
“There
are some 300-400 breeding pairs of Marsh Harrier in Austria of which 50-100
pairs are found in Lower Austria. The shooting of 144 individuals over 3 years must have
a massive negative influence on not only the Lower Austrian population; but the Marsh Harrier population of Austria as a whole,” says Gerald Pfiffinger of BirdLife Austria.
In numerous
discussions and exchange of letters with the hunting associations BirdLife Austria
has proposed alternative methods of carrying out this research; all of which have been ignored. “It seems that the hunters
are more interested in decimating the Marsh Harrier population than carrying out a soundly-based project” states Andreas
Wurzer, head of the WWF Nature protection Dept. “And where do we go from here? Is the result of the project to be that
the Marsh Harrier does have an influence on small game – so that the hunters can demand even more killings? Which raptor
ewill be the next on the list for a “scientific study?”
“So long
as illegal killing of raptors such as shooting and poisoning regularly continue, we can forget this form of “scientific
whale hunt” conclude the WWF.
WHAT YOU CAN DO
You can protest
in a German form letter against this unnecessary and outdated scientific project on the WWF Austria website at.
WWF PETITION IN GERMAN
Or you can register your protest in English (Italian, Spanish and French organisations
are all preparing protest mails in their own languages) by either using the text below or writing to those responsible for
the "experiment" using the following mail link:
EMAIL TO MARSH HARRIER PROJECT LEADERS
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