A member of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) holds an adult female barn owl in the buffer zone between the island, May 11, 2023 (AFP / Etienne TORBEY)
In the middle of the ears of wheat, in the buffer zone dividing Cyprus, Christodoulos Christodoulou cannot believe it: there is no longer a trace of rodents, whereas ten years ago they threatened his crops. All thanks to the barn owls, which have become the best friends of Cypriot farmers.
“Our village was full of rats and mice, they ate our crops, nibbled our tires,” recalls the farmer, in Déneia, in western Cyprus. “Then we set up these boxes for the owls.”
Studded about three meters from the ground on the trunks of trees, fifty light wooden boxes, with a small circle as an entrance, have thus appeared in this village, one of the few still inhabited in the demilitarized buffer zone. which has plagued Cyprus since 1974.
A female member of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) holds an adult female barn owl in the buffer zone between the island, May 11, 2023 (AFP/Etienne TORBEY)
Pilot project of an initiative led for ten years by the NGO BirdLife Cyprus and the Greek Cypriot government, Déneia now hosts between 20 and 50 barn owls and their chicks.
These raptors, about thirty centimeters tall, are recognizable by their heart-shaped mask, their milky plumage but also their monster appetite: they each devour up to 5,000 rats and mice per year.
The latter proliferate in no man’s land in the absence of human activity, ransacking the crops of farmers who have long responded with rat poison very harmful to the environment and health.
Artificial nest for barn owls installed along a pole in the village of Déneia, in the United Nations buffer zone separating the two parts of the divided island, on June 2, 2023 (AFP / Etienne TORBEY)
Some, said a government official, even used products banned in the European Union, illegally introduced from the northern part of Cyprus, occupied by Turkey.
The objective of the reintroduction of barn owls is therefore twofold, explains Martin Hellicar, director of BirdLife Cyprus: to encourage farmers to abandon rat poison while reviving the population of barn owls in Cyprus, which is declining throughout Europe.
“The owls are a miracle!” exclaims Mr. Christodoulos. They had a “radical” effect against rodents, he says.
He who watered his fields with powerful rat poison, can now practice organic farming, like the other farmers of Déneia.
Barn owl eggs in a nest in the United Nations buffer zone separating the two parts of the divided island of Cyprus, May 11, 2023 (AFP/Etienne TORBEY)
Today, thanks to the owls, “to find a rodent here, you have to search for a week”, welcomes the mayor, Christakis Panayiotou.
For Mr Hellicar, whose NGO has 1,300 boxes in Cyprus, the success is due to the fact that “farmers become attached to the barn owls and reconnect with nature.”
– Poisoning –
Artificial nest for barn owls on a tree in the village of Déneia, in the United Nations buffer zone separating the two parts of the divided island, on June 2, 2023 (AFP / Etienne TORBEY)
Further west, in this same demilitarized corridor, other boxes have appeared, in cooperation with the United Nations. But there, nobody to listen to the hoots of the owls: the villages were abandoned after the invasion of northern Cyprus by Turkey, in reaction to a coup d’etat by Greek Cypriot nationalists.
Not far from the watchtowers, under the watchful eye of UN representatives, a ranger wearing gloves takes two chicks out of a box.
The little ones blink, dazzled by the daylight. With an expert gesture, Nikos Kassinis attaches an identification ring to them.
A member of the Cyprus Game and Wildlife Service inspects a four-month-old barn owl he removed from its nest, in the UN buffer zone separating the two parts of the divided island, May 11, 2023 (AFP/Etienne TORBEY)
Each year, the authorities recover the bodies of about twenty owls. Autopsy verdict: secondary rat poisoning.
“Their ability to fly is affected and they are hit by cars”, which, he points out, is not likely to happen in the buffer zone.
– “Unique” –
A four-month-old barn owl in the United Nations buffer zone that separates the two parts of the divided island of Cyprus, May 11, 2023 (AFP / Etienne TORBEY)
“Species thrive there far from humans. The day a solution to the conflict is found, it will be necessary to transform this place into a natural park”, pleads Mr. Hellicar.
No man’s land is an “exceptional” environment, notes scientist Iris Charalambidou. A “very large non-fragmented space”, “unique” on the island marked by unbridled real estate development.
With the authorization of the UN, the Greek Cypriot sometimes comes accompanied by her Turkish Cypriot colleague, Salih Gucel.
“Being able to work together” and observe the barn owls in the buffer zone that separates their two communities “is precious”.
“Because no bird will ever respect the borders drawn by man,” she recalls.
© 2023 AFP
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