Paddle tennis courts can also be a death trap for birds, including protected species. The State Attorney General’s Office considers that the administrations should act to prevent fatal bird collisions on the glass screens of these sports facilities. Every year, hundreds and even thousands of birds crash against windows that delimit paddle tennis courts or against other glass surfaces on building facades that are transparent or translucent, according to ornithologists.
The environment unit of the State Prosecutor’s Office has signed an administrative decree, which has been sent to those responsible for the Agents Rurals de Barcelona body, in which it makes clear its position in favor of acting in this field to prevent accidents and deaths of birds due to frequent collisions in these glazing.
Based on the new legislation, it urges administrations to “promote as many measures as are pertinent” to guarantee the protection of birds.
The aforementioned administrative decree is addressed to the rural agents of the Generalitat, although the problem detected occurs in other parts of Spain, so the request will be extended in the near future to other areas where these tracks proliferate.
The Attorney General’s Office, through its environmental unit, explains in the letter that it has undertaken this initiative upon learning of the death of a significant number of birds, of all kinds, as a result of the different transparent screens, especially in the paddle tennis courts The letter has been signed by Antonio Vercher, coordinating prosecutor for the Environment and Urban Planning of Spain.
The petition indicates to the rural agents that they must proceed “to the study on the incidence that the glazing of the paddle tennis courts, and similar facilities, are having in the deaths by collision of various types of birds.”
A preliminary study carried out by this body confirms that the glass surfaces are “a serious threat to birds”. However, it has not been possible to quantify the real degree of mortality of the birds, “given the fact that, frequently, the remains of the animals are removed directly by individuals in charge of the aforementioned facilities, by cleaning services or by their natural predators of dead birds”.
The letter sent to the rural agents indicates that, in addition, it has been detected that insectivorous birds are the most affected by these screens.
This leads one to think, says the Prosecutor’s Office, the convenience that the competent authorities consider “the necessary measures to guarantee the conservation of biodiversity” from this point of view. In addition, mortality in the spring (breeding period) has a damage multiplier effect by extending the losses to the spawnings and to the young that are no longer cared for.
Other surfaces and facilities that can be harmful to birds are the partitions of bus stops, roads or glass buildings.
Currently, the measures to avoid these collisions are practically nil, although there are various initiatives of interest to prevent them, for which reason “the Prosecutor’s Office urges that they be promoted throughout the national territory as quickly as possible.”
The Prosecutor’s Office is based on the new criminal regulations introduced on March 28 of this year in terms of animal abuse. This regulation makes him consider that “the competent Administrations must proceed to promote any measures that are appropriate in favor of the preservation of fauna, as well as to adopt the initiatives that are necessary to avoid or reduce these collisions.”
