Seeing a live mole is usually lucky. After all, the little guys are underground and don't show up that easily. The extreme summer has changed that.
Stuttgart (dpa / lsw) - You can see them much more often than usual at the moment - and unfortunately dead. Moles, otherwise underground, have been coming to the surface weakened for weeks due to lack of food and die. "The intense heat and the dry summer bother them a lot," explains Felicitas Rechtenwald, species protection officer at the Nabu Nature Conservation Union. "The ground is then so dry due to the lack of rain that the animals, especially the young from the previous year, cannot dig up earthworms or other insects."
When the young animals then migrate in search of new territories, they are said to be slower than usual because of hunger. They could therefore be more easily dug up and killed by predators, or simply starve to death. The animals are not eaten, only bitten to death, "because they probably don't taste good and have a very thick fur," says Rechtenwald.
According to the Nabu expert, there are no numbers on the stock of the small graves, which are usually difficult to view. They are not systematically recorded and there is no reporting platform. Although they are likely to occur across the board, concerns about the "Talpa europaea Linné", the scientific name of the mole, are justified. "Even a previously unendangered and widespread animal can suffer from climate change and end up on the Red List of Threatened Species," Rechtenwald emphasizes.
Moles are not yet considered endangered, but are particularly protected under the Federal Nature Conservation Act. Catching and killing the burrowers is therefore forbidden. They are considered beneficial because they loosen and aerate the soil and eat pests, explains the biologist. "One can only hope that the moles are adaptable enough to cope with the increasingly frequent extreme summers."
