Tail premium

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Killed great vole ( Arvicola terrestris )

As tail premium or mouse tail premium traditional is premium referred to for catching mice and especially of voles and related with them muskrats awarded is. It is a financial remuneration that is paid for every animal caught and killed.

distribution

This custom , which used to be widespread , has recently been found in many places in southern Baden and Switzerland . The sponsor was or is usually the respective municipality. Traditionally, evidence is provided by presenting the cut mouse tail . The removal of the remaining dead animal is usually the responsibility of the mouse hunter.

For mice, this tradition is only known in two places in Baden-Württemberg and in various regions in Switzerland. However, there are still numerous muskrat hunters in Germany and the Netherlands who hunt the muskrat on behalf of the state, especially in areas with dykes .

Voles as pests

Water vole in the opening of an underground passage while eating a seed

In parts of Europe are from the mammals - subfamily of voles (Arvicolinae) especially the so-called Great voles from the kind Arvicola terrestris , also Ostschermaus or short vole called as pests considered. This applies in particular to the southern Baden region and Switzerland, which used to be plagued by mice and rats . The rest of the distribution area of ​​the Eastern water vole covers large parts of the Palearctic and extends from Great Britain to the Lena in Siberia .

Eastern water voles eat among other things flower bulbs , vegetables and beets as well as the roots of grass , clover and even fruit trees . They cause economically relevant damage mainly through root corrosion in orchards and tree nurseries as well as in vegetable crops. The piles of earth they carry up when digging underground passages in agricultural meadows also have damaging effects, especially in alpine and mountain locations. So the mounds of earth put the knife blades of motor mowers , with which the grass on alpine pastures and mountain meadows is usually mowed today: The blades become blunt faster and have to be sharpened. Above all, the mice can destroy an entire hay harvest ; the pulverized excavation of their tunnels can degrade the taste of the fodder to such an extent that the cattle will not eat it. Such debacles are said to have cost some farmers their existence in the past. In addition, bitter substances can that come with soil into the hay, easy to milk the cows make inedible - as well as the information retrieved from her cheese .

The damage potential of voles is considered to be almost unlimited. Up to 1,000 specimens can live on an area of ​​one hectare , which is little more than a soccer field . Piles of earth and collapsed corridors can then quickly turn such areas into "fall fields" on which today's lawnmower tractors, for example, can hardly make any headway.

European muskrat , peeled off with the leather side facing out - without the tails

The muskrat also belongs to the family of voles. Actually at home in North America, it was settled in Bohemia and other places after 1905 to obtain fur or escaped from fur farms. Within a short time it spread over large parts of Asia and Europe, in 1939 the total population of the animals for Central Europe was estimated at 10 million. When the first damage to dams, canals and dykes as a result of the burrowing activity of muskrats became known, laws to control the rat were passed. The first decree was issued in Austria-Hungary on July 26, 1913, and a year later for the Kingdom of Bohemia; with a law of February 2, 1926 in Germany. State agencies with muskrat hunters expressly employed for this purpose were tasked with ruthless fighting, and any keeping or breeding was prohibited. Initially, extra catch premiums did not necessarily have to be paid for this, so the approximately 20 cm long tails were not delivered; the value of the fur was enough of an incentive, the captured animals belong to the hunter.

From the 1930s until long after the Second World War , muskrat was one of the most important articles in the fur industry. Although the tail premium was only 3 Marks, there were still 340 volunteer muskrat catchers in the Upper Lippe Water Association in North Rhine-Westphalia alone . Towards the end of the 20th century, the fur fashion began Bisamfell negligible, also rose Gerber wages under the general wage increases so much of that recovery in Europe is that hardly worth the purchase price for a very good coat in 2009 was less than 3 € . In recent years, therefore, muskrat catchers have been sought in Germany and the Netherlands. Although the beautiful fur has very good wearing properties, the carcasses of the rats are still mostly disposed of together with the fur. As an incentive, the catchers still receive a tail bonus after the tails have been delivered, in 2009 this was € 5.20 in the Upper Lippe water association.

The payment of premiums for each animal delivered may, however, have a counterproductive effect, since the consignor may not have any interest in exterminating the animals and thus depriving themselves of a source of income. This hypothesis is also known as the cobra effect . The name refers to an alleged event in British India where the number of snakes was not reduced as the population is said to have moved to breed cobras in order to continue to benefit from the premium.

Traditional mouse hunt in Baden-Württemberg and Switzerland

In Baden, Württemberg and Switzerland, mouse hunting was traditionally practiced by private individuals as hobby hunters, often also by children and young people; including The performance units awarded by the respective municipalities tail premiums offered an incentive and so the additional income of pocket money (in Switzerland sack of money called) enabled. In Switzerland, the award-winning mouse control can be proven for the year 1911 in the municipality of Saanen in the canton of Bern . At that time there was a first mouse plague and a "tail premium" was introduced as a countermeasure. The custom practiced in today's chalet town of Saanen served as a template for a corresponding question in an episode of the television comedy series Genial besides - Die Comedy Arena broadcast in 2005 .

Vole trap (killing trap or snap trap) made of spring steel

Today the mouse hunters mostly use vole traps in the form of killing traps. These are mainly mechanical snap traps, in which the animal's backbone is broken when the trap is triggered, which in most cases leads to immediate death. These include snap traps made of thick spring steel, which resemble large safety pins (see picture) and are buried at the entrance of the underground mouse passages. As soon as the animals come out and touch the tension ring, the traps snap together as a result of the strong spring action and break their necks. The killed animals are then disposed of by the mouse hunters after they have previously cut off the relatively thin tail. The mouse tails serve as proof of payment of the bonus and are collected accordingly.

Some, albeit decreasing, Swiss municipalities still pay a tail premium of mostly one franc per mouse tail. These include, for example, the mountain village of Lauenen in the canton of Bern , where in 2003 a total of almost 3300 mouse tails were remunerated with one franc each, and the St. Gallen community of Sennwald , where around 4000 to 5000 mouse tails per year in the community towards the end of the 2000s were submitted. In Langenbruck in the canton of Basel-Landschaft , the tail premium was even reintroduced in the mid-2000s - because it “aligns everyone in the valley”, as the municipality said. In the meantime, the mouse tail premium in the 1500-inhabitant municipality of Ersigen in the canton of Bern was lifted at the end of 2009. Previously there was one franc per tail - on average, up to 2000 such tails were given to the community's master of the road, with which farmers in particular earned pocket money or pocket money.

In Germany , a so-called “mouse tail premium”, which has been known at least since the 1940s , was recently only paid in Hohentengen in southern Baden on the Upper Rhine . The municipal office currently (2011/2012) pays an amount of 50 cents per dead animal in accordance with the resolution of the municipal council  . Voles in particular are targeted by the still active, mostly older mouse hunters, who sometimes receive an annual premium of between 50 and 100 euros for the mouse tails they have delivered as evidence of their catch  . In addition, the mouse tail premium (50 cents) was reactivated in 2012 in Notzingen, Württemberg .

Today, the general control of rodents such as voles and especially water voles is mainly carried out using various pesticides , above all by poisoning with chemical agents such as rodenticide .

Animal welfare

In Switzerland and Germany, animal rights activists are now criticizing the tail premium, which is still offered by some municipalities, and calling for an end to the custom, such as the Swiss Foundation for Animals in Law (TIR) ​​and Swiss Animal Welfare (STS) in 2010 . "Since lay people are at work - often children - [,] there is no guarantee that the mice will not have to suffer," said Andreas Rüttimann from the TIR Foundation and demanded: "The communities should stop the practice and let experts do their work." Eva Waiblinger, rodent expert at Swiss Animal Welfare, doubted “that the mouse hunters can effectively decimate the water voles”.

The Swiss Farmers Association (SBV) defended the practice and justified this with the fact that the rodents in the fields caused huge damage. "You can hardly set the traps wrong: if they snap, the mouse is usually dead immediately," says the farmers' association spokesman Matthias Singer. The criticism was also rejected by the traditional mouse hunters and it was also pointed out that the snap traps they use, in contrast to poisoning, kill the mice immediately.

Literature and media

Non-fiction

Print media

Online magazines and e-papers

Radio

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Joachim Hoelzgen: Mouse alarm. Swiss mountain village attracts with a tail premium . On: Spiegel Online from June 25, 2004; Retrieved March 28, 2012.
  2. ↑ Heinrich Dathe, Dr. Paul Schöps: The muskrat (Fiber zibethicus L.) . Hermelin-Verlag Dr. Paul Schöps, Berlin and Leipzig, 1951
  3. ↑ Kai von Schoenebeck: With musk and apples on the muskrat hunt . In: Neue Westfälische, No. 75, March 28, 1992
  4. ^ WDR 2: OWL on muskrat hunt , interview: Beate Depping, muskrat catcher: Josef Sandheinrich. March 23, 2009, script of the show
  5. ↑ Questions and answers from the programs from 2005 →  Saturday, September 10, 2005 . On: www.beepworld.de; Retrieved March 28, 2012.
  6. ↑ a b Sebastian Stoll ( epd ): Pest control. In southern Baden the “mouse tail premium” brings 50 cents . In: Die Welt from March 13, 2012; Retrieved March 28, 2012.
  7. ↑ a b c mouse hunt. Animal rights activist against tail premium . On: 20 Minuten Online from July 5, 2010; Retrieved March 28, 2012.
  8. ↑ Mouse tails worthless again . On: 20 Minuten Online from December 28, 2009; Retrieved March 28, 2012.
  9. ↑ Mice are up for grabs Iris Häfner, Der Teckbote, May 16, 2012