Winegrowers want the ban on shooting starlings lifted

Large flocks of starlings, which appear to be more numerous than usual, are causing large-scale damage to the crops of winegrowers, who are now planning to ask the Environment Ministry for an exemption from the shooting ban, according to Slovak Agriculture and Food Chamber (SPPK) spokesperson Jana Holéciová quoted by the TASR press agency. Starlings are protected by law in Slovakia. "We've recorded damage on ten hectares of vineyards, of which two hectares of yields have been completely destroyed by starlings. We're talking here about the loss of 40 tonnes of crop, which represents financial damage of more than €20,000," said Lukáš Krasnanský from the VVDP Karpaty Grinava (Bratislava region) wine company. Winegrowers are attempting to protect their grapes, but wrapping vines in special nets is too costly and demanding in terms of manual labour, while gas detonators have begun to lose their effect. They're noisy enough, but the starlings appear to have become accustomed to them. Not even birds of prey seem to be effective, as flocks with hundreds of thousands of starlings don't fear predators at all and even chase them away.