Groeiend protest tegen opstand op inspraakavonden

From book https://www.routledge.com/…/Shorem…/p/book/9781138051591 Rewilding in the Netherlands

The key principles of rewilding are cores (species), carnivors (natural preditors) and corridors (so animals can migrate). One of the largest rewilding initiatives in Europe (http://www.rewildingeurope.com/tag/oostvaardersplassen/) included the Introduction of hundreds of non-native grazers to a 56 square kilometre area called Oostvaardersplassen, situated in the Flevopolder, a land reclaimed from Lake Ijssel (Vera 2009). Animals re-introduced to this territory, included bird species that had become very rare in the Netherlands, such as the Common Spoonbill, Eurasian Bittern, Marsh Harrier, Bearded Tit, as well as even rarer species that had disappeared from the Netherlands such as Greylag Goose, Great Cormorant, Great White Egret, White-tailed Eagle, and Sanderling, amongst others (Vera 2009). Aside from birds, smaller mammals like foxes and hares, as well as amphibians and reptiles established themselves in the area.

Perhaps, the most remarkable animals to be introduced were red deer, Heck cattle, and Konik horses, which are sometimes called Konik ponies (Vera 2009). Heck cattle are the result of a controversial Nazi breeding program in which modern aurochs were selectively bred with Spanish fighting bulls to resemble extinct European wild cattle called the aurochs, and resurrect the long-extinct breed (de Bruxelles 2009; Morris 2015; Izadi 2015). The ‘Nazi-bred-super-cows’, like their ancestors (Morris 2015), the aurochs, were said to be beasts ‘with shaggy, russet-tinged coat, powerful shoulders and lyre-shaped horns that could have stepped straight from a prehistoric cave painting’ (de Bruxelles 2009). In recent reports, farmers found the Heck cattle too aggressive to breed (Morris 2015; Izadi 2015).

Meanwhile, the Koniks, native to Poland, suffered drastic population declines in the nineteenth century, as they were unable to compete with the larger draught breeds of Western Europe (http://conpsychmeasures.com). The Konik and Heck cattle were eventually introduced to the Oostvaardersplassen because they have undergone very little, recent selective breeding and might therefore have many of the characteristics of their wild ancestors (Vera 2009).
[INSERT FIGURE 10.2, caption: Konik ponies, photo credit: Engelbert Fellinger]

The ecosystem of the area was designed to resemble those that would have existed on European river banks and deltas prior to human development (Monbiot 2013). In the words of Kolbert (2012):
The cattle grazed and multiplied. So did the red deer, which were trucked in from Scotland, and the horses, which were imported from Poland, and the foxes and the geese and the egrets. In fact, the large mammals reproduced so prolifically that they formed what could, with a certain amount of squinting, be said to resemble the great migratory herds of Africa; the German magazine Der Spiegel has called the Oostvaardersplassen “the Serengeti behind the dikes.” Visitors now pay up to forty-five dollars each to take safari-like tours of the park. These are especially popular in the fall, during rutting season.

The beautiful Dutch nature film De Nieuwe Wildernis (http://hollanddefilm.nl/de-nieuwe-wildernis) about life in Oostvaardersplassen won a ‘Rembrandt’, the Dutch equivalent of the Oscars in 2014, marking the first time that a feature documentary has been awarded the title of ‘Best Dutch Movie of the Year’. It also won an official selection prize at the Environmental Film Festival (http://www.thenewwilderness.com/).

However, despite its praise and popularity, Oostvaardersplassen has come under great scrutiny, for its capacity, or lack thereof, to maintain its large herbivore population. As the protected area has no connection to other land where the animals could migrate and does not include predators, the number of Konik and Heck cattle grazing during the growing season is determined by the number of animals that have survived the preceding winter (Vera 2009). This has necessitated ‘control’ or ‘management’. This management included animals being shot to prevent a slow death of starvation (NRC 2011; Het Parool 2011a; Nu 2015). Alternatively, another strategy was to leave the animals to die naturally. As reported by the Dutch newspapers, 1,093 animals died in the winter of 2009–2010 of starvation and 793 animals died in 2011 (e.g. Het Parool 2011b). At the time of writing this book, Staatsbosbeheer, the Dutch Forest Service, remained optimistic about harmonious and ‘natural life where nature has a say in it’ [Translated HK] (http://www.staatsbosbeheer.nl/oostvaardersplassen/). Yet, according to the Dutch Forest Service, 91 per cent of the deaths between 1 May and 30 April 2014 were animals that were shot, with 11 animals dying a ‘natural death’ of starvation (Staatsbosbeheer 2014).

Despite popularity of the nature film De Nieuwe Wildernis, protest platforms against the ‘rewilding’ method in Oostvaardersplassen have emerged (https://www.facebook.com/antiovp). The biggest objection is animal suffering. In the absence of a large territory where animals can migrate in times of food shortage, and without predators, the large herbivores were simply left to starve, or like animals in large zoo cage, left there by humans but without human care. As Kolbert (2012) recalled of her experience visiting the area with the French film crew:

A few members of the French crew had brought along video cameras. As they panned across the horses – at the edge of the herd, a mare nuzzled a foal that couldn’t have been more than two or three days old – I wondered what they would do with the high-voltage power lines in the background. It occurred to me that, like so many post-modern projects, the Oostvaardersplassen was faintly ridiculous. It was also, I had to admit, inspiring.

Some of the Dutch media articles have commented on how starvation was part of a natural process (e.g. NRC 2010), with many discussions over whether shooting animals was a more humane solution than letting them starve. Similar issues are recorded in other small, protected areas where herbivores were placed, e.g. Kennemerduinen and De Veluwe.

Monbiot (2013) while being in favour of rewilding, has doubted Oostvaardersplassen’s lack of tree cover and of predators, predicting that this initiative may be potentially detrimental to large herbivores. While not presently acknowledged as a failure, this type of rewilding effort demonstrates the shortcomings of applying biodiversity conservation principles without realizing the scale and inter-species interdependence. In the words of Schenk (2015:99),

our planet’s biodiversity cannot be increased by artificially augmenting the number of species within select areas. Cul¬tivated land or conservation areas with artificially higher numbers of spe¬cies based on intensive management in reality do not increase biodiversity at the global scale.

Perhaps it is true that genuine wilderness can only ever be destroyed, and only new ‘wilderness’, what the Dutch call ‘new nature’, can be created (Kolbert 2012). Perhaps it would have been better if Oostvaardersplassen was left to smaller animals and birds, granting great cormorants and egrets, common spoonbills, and white-tailed eagles a large refuge from the human-dominated landscapes. Perhaps the ‘Nazi-bred-super-cows’ and the Konik have suffered through enough attempts at selective breeding and ‘management’ and should be allocated a larger territory in their native Poland with the same Dutch funding that now helps to ‘manage’ its populations in Oostvaardersplassen. We can only speculate.

Die vreemde inspraak piemels geven mij altijd een vreemde smaak in de mond.

Iedereen moet een krachtig protest laten horen als er dergelijke teksten worden gescandeerd. Democratie staat of valt met een respectvolle bejegening van elkaar. Ook de landelijke politiek moet duidelijk zijn over de grenzen van vrije meningsuiting.
De vluchteling moet ook zo snel mogelijk onze verworven rechten kennen en respecteren met name met betrekking tot vrouwen en homosexuelen.

De piemel als onderbuik…

Hangen daar al zoveel piemels op die inspraakavond te lullen, gaan ze er nog ranzige liedjes over zingen ook! Gelukkig geen filmpje bij dit artikel.

Al die armen omhoog, ik kan niet direct zien of het om de Hitlergroet gaat.

ha, ha, ha, ha! leve de stagiair!

Tuurlijk, scheer iedereen maar weer over een kam, jammer dit. Er zijn heus wel tokkies die nuttige dingen te zeggen hebben hoor. Neem bijvoorbeeld Corrie, mijn buurvrouw (denk ik): zij roept dat ons land vol is maar dat soort mensen krijgt natuurlijk weer geen aandacht.

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eigenlijk is dit soort mensen gewoon op zoek naar een soort tros muziekfeest op het plein maar dan overdekt

We leven toch maar in een bevoorrecht land waar alles mag. Je mag best piemel zeggen hoor, dat vind ik best kunnen in de moderne tijd. Waarin wij Nederlanders uitblinken. Ik zeg altijd maar: nergens ter wereld hebben ze zo’n vrijheid als in dit land. Vrijheid van ‘meningsuiting’ noemen ze dat geloof ik met een moeilijk woord.