On Monday morning, a nutria shooting was carried out in Rybnik. Residents' protests and attempts to create an asylum for these animals were unsuccessful. The police were on site – to prevent “attempts to disturb public order.”
The shooting was carried out on the boulevards on the Nacyna River in the south of the city. The case was reported by, among others, Dr. Ewa ZgrabczyÅ„ska from the Animal Asylum and an assistant professor at the University of Warsaw. “There is a nutria shooting in the middle of the day on the Nacyna River. In the city. With the help of the police on roosters. It's unbelievable! Who pays for it?” – the scientist wrote on social media.
We asked the local police about the matter, and they confirmed that the shooting had taken place. However, he emphasizes that the officers did not “assist” him. – We were only there preventively, looking for possible threats to law and order. We did not provide any assistance, said BogusÅ‚awa Kobeszko, press officer of the Rybnik police.
– All our actions to save nutria are like blood to sand. I am upset, resentful and sad – local portal rybnik.com.pl quotes one of the activists present at the site. Journalists report that 15 nutrias were saved by Pet Patrol volunteers, and a larger group was saved by a private person who did not have a permit to run a sanctuary. The remaining animals were probably killed.
200 nutria for “elimination”
At the beginning of October, the Regional Directorate for Environmental Protection signed an agreement to eliminate from the environment 200 Silesian nutria that have settled on the Nacyna River. Initially, their herd consisted of a dozen or so individuals, but it grew very quickly.
As the Rybnik city hall reported in August, in connection with the tender for “Catching and eliminating nutria in the Silesian Voivodeship”, city representatives met with the Regional Directorate for Environmental Protection in Katowice. The Regional Directorate for Environmental Protection refused to invalidate the tender and change its provisions, and also did not agree to the city mayor's proposal to allocate funds for the construction of the asylum instead of the elimination of nutria.
“There are no legal bases that would allow for a change in the qualification of the purpose of the expenditure provided for in the tender for catching and eliminating nutria in the Silesian Voivodeship. There are also no legal bases that would allow for the invalidation of this tender,” the Katowice Regional Directorate for Environmental Protection emphasized in its announcement.
According to the Regional Directorate for Environmental Protection, the estimated cost of eliminating the entire population in the Silesian Voivodeship is approximately PLN 400-500 thousand.
The presence of nutria in the province. Silesia has so far been found in Rybnik, Jaworzno, Wodzisław Śląski, Czyżowice, Kalety, Aleksandria, Kamieniec. According to RDOŚ, the largest population is the one in Rybnik, estimated at about 200 individuals. The animals dispersed over approximately 15 kilometers of the Nacyna and Ruda rivers.
“It would be best if they went to some asylum”
Pursuant to the regulation of the Council of Ministers of December 2022, nutria were recognized as an invasive species subject to elimination. RDOÅš emphasizes that nutria destroy road infrastructure, dig up the banks of rivers and water reservoirs, transmit pathogens and parasites, and threaten people and native species and habitats.
The case of Rybnik nutria was commented on, among others, by naturalist Adam Wajrak.
– I am not an expert on nutria, but as alien species they should never enter the environment and should definitely be removed from it. Of course, it would be best if they went to some asylum and I hope that will happen. They were unnecessarily made into mascots, but it does not change the fact that we need to act decisively – he said in an interview with the Local Government Portal in August this year. As he emphasized, “the policy towards invasive species must be very clear.”
Main photo source: TVN24