A population increase of common wood pigeons is causing an increase in crop damage for Danish farmers.
Milder European winters due to climate change have brought a plague of ravenous birds to Danish farmers, who are petitioning the government to be able to cull the flocks that are feeding on their crops.
"This is a vicious circle," farmers union leader Herdis Dam told the regional paper Frederiksborg Amts Avis.
"The mild winters mean that more birds breed the year round, and since one doesn't want to hunt the birds when they have young the hunting season is reduced," he added.
Dam estimates that some farmers have lost up to 30 percent of their rapeseed crop due to wood pigeons.
Photo: Andrew Howe - iStockphoto
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