Now they’re retreating: swans are raiding a poppy field in Slovakia – and getting high

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Animals also use drugs. It sounds bizarre, but it has been proven. For example, dolphins have been recorded chewing on a blowfish. The deadly poison has an intoxicating effect on mammals in small doses. But swans also seem to haunt the feeling of the high — and even become addicted.

Since February, countless drunken swans have gathered in a poppy field in Patince in southern Slovakia. Animal rights activists initially thought the animals were poisoned.

But since organic farmer Balint Pem does not use any pesticides, it soon became clear: the poppy itself is to blame. The opium in the seeds has made the birds addicted. Pem told “SWR”: “We have never experienced anything like it. Those swans even graze a piece of the poppy.”

200 misty swans on the field

In the beginning, only a few animals should have gotten a taste. But now there are up to 200 animals on Pem’s field every day. They would have already destroyed a total of five hectares of land. After filling their stomachs, the animals lie stoned on the field. In their hazy state, they cannot walk or fly.

Farmer Pem is powerless against the swans. Since they are considered protected in Slovakia, he is not allowed to drive them away. In order to get rid of them anyway and to secure his harvest, he is now trying to get a special permit. However, it may take some time for him to receive it.

For that long, he has no choice but to watch the animals get drunk on the drugs. The organic farmer is not even entitled to compensation. Neither the state nor its insurance companies take responsibility.

But not only the farmer suffers. Drug use is not good for the affected animals – they get sick. Animal rights activists have therefore stepped in and are taking particularly sick-looking swans to a special ‘rehabilitation clinic’. But there are also problems there now: space is slowly running out. (Mrs)

Source: Blick