In this image taken on May 11, 2023, a member of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) holds a feminine grownup barn owl that was faraway from its nest for inspection, close to the deserted villages of Agios Nikolaos and Agios Georgios in the UN buffer zone separating the two components of the divided island. Standing amid ears of wheat rising tall in the buffer zone dividing Cyprus, farmer Christodoulos Christodoulou can relaxation simple, for the rodents that when ran rampant in the many years since the no-man’s land was created and destroyed his crops are being pushed out by owls.
| Photo Credit: AFP
Standing amid ears of wheat rising tall in the buffer zone dividing Cyprus, farmer Christodoulos Christodoulou can relaxation simple.
The rodents that when ran rampant in the many years since the no-man’s land was created and destroyed his crops are being pushed out by owls.
“Our village was full of rats and mice. They ate our crops, nibbled on our tyres,” recollects Christodoulou, who owns a farm in the demilitarised hall that splits the internationally recognised Republic of Cyprus and the self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.
“Then we set up these boxes for the owls,” he mentioned.
Around 50 gentle wood packing containers with round openings have been put in on tree trunks as half of a 10-year-old initiative led by the BirdLife Cyprus non-governmental organisation and the Cypriot authorities.
BirdLife says the aims of the venture are to encourage farmers to abandon utilizing poison and to assist repopulate the barn owl inhabitants of Cyprus, which has been in decline throughout Europe.
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Deneia, one of the few villages in the 180-kilometre (112-mile) buffer zone that’s nonetheless inhabited, is now dwelling to between 20 and 50 barn owls and their chicks — recognisable by their milk-white plumage.
The birds of prey are solely about 30 centimetres (12 inches) tall, however have massive appetites, devouring as many as 5,000 rats and mice a 12 months.
Rodents have proliferated in the hall in the absence of massive quantities of human exercise — ransacking agricultural areas.
A miracle
Farmers have usually tried to tackle the scenario with rat poison — dangerous to each people and the setting — earlier than the launch of the initiative.
“The owls are a miracle!” mentioned Christodoulou, who first tried spraying poison on his fields. Their presence has had a “radical” influence in driving away the rodents and he can now practise natural farming.
Today, thanks to the owls, “to find a rodent here, you would have to search for a week”, mentioned Deneia mayor Christakis Panayiotou.
In this image taken on May 11, 2023, a four-month-old barn owl, faraway from its nest for inspection by a member of Cyprus’ Game and Fauna service, stands in the again of a truck close to the deserted villages of Agios Nikolaos and Agios Georgios in the United Nations buffer zone separating the two components of the divided island.
| Photo Credit:
AFP
BirdLife director Martin Hellicar, who counts greater than 1,300 owl packing containers throughout Cyprus, attributes the success of the venture to farmers turning into “attached to the barn owls and reconnecting with nature”.
Further west in the similar demilitarised hall, entire villages have been deserted for many years since the 1974 Turkish invasion of Cyprus, in response to a Greek-sponsored coup try.
Bird packing containers have gone up in coordination with the United Nations.
Not removed from looming watchtowers manned by some of the 800 UN peacekeepers patrolling the space, a ranger sporting gloves pulls two owl chicks out of a field.
The small creatures blink, blinded by the daylight. With an professional hand, Nikos Kassinis attatches a hoop to them with an identification quantity.
Birds with out borders
Every 12 months, authorities discover the our bodies of round 20 owls. Autopsies reveal that many die consequently of consuming rat poison.
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“They lose their capacity to fly and get hit by cars,” added the mayor, noting that this most frequently takes place exterior in additional populated areas.
Scientist Iris Charalambidou describes the no-man’s land as a “unique” setting for its expanse of largely untouched nature compared to the unbridled actual property improvement on different components of the island.
With permission from the United Nations, the Greek Cypriot specialist generally comes to the space with a Turkish Cypriot colleague.
The researcher says having the ability to work collectively to observe barn owls in the buffer zone that divides them is “invaluable”.
“Because no bird will ever respect the borders drawn by man,” she mentioned.
