The mascletá that the Madrid City Council intends to carry out next Sunday on the Puente del Rey, over the Manzanares River, will not only alter the river ecosystem and the nervous system of people sensitive to noise and the wild and domestic animals in the area, but it would also violate current legislation.
According to SEO/BirdLife, this type of activity in the environment that is proposed, “in addition to other regulations related to noise, could go against Law 2/1991, of February 14, for the Protection and Regulation of Fauna and Wild Flora in the Community of Madrid.
This law states that ‘it is prohibited to kill, harm, disturb or disturb the cataloged species of animals’; and ‘prohibits the disturbance of the recovery, breeding, molting, wintering, resting and passage spaces of the cataloged animal species, especially migratory ones’.
The subsequent state Law 42/2007 establishes the same prohibitions in identical terms for all protected species, Seo/BirdLife, an organization that works for the conservation of nature and especially birds, points out in a statement.
The Madrid mascletá has been scheduled on the bridge that crosses the renaturalized Manzanares River, connects the Casa de Campo with Madrid Río and is very close to the Campo del Moro gardens.
These green areas host a rich biodiversity, among which up to 134 species of birds recorded in Madrid Río stand out (128 in the section between the Reina Victoria bridge and the Segovia bridge), 129 species in the Casa de Campo and 85 in the Campo del Moro, details the NGO.
For Seo/BridLife, it is foreseeable that the show, even if it is specific, will have an impact on the wildlife that inhabits the area and its surroundings.
He also maintains that it will be done on “key dates” for birds and other species that begin their reproductive period.
Along the same lines, Ecologistas en Acción Madrid warns that the mascletá on the Puente del Rey could produce “important” alterations to the “valuable” river ecosystem existing in that stretch of the Manzanares River.
It warns that the effects of fireworks will have repercussions on both the birds that inhabit it and the riverside vegetation.
This stretch of the river borders the Casa de Campo, declared an Asset of Cultural Interest and where, in addition to wild animals, there is a zoo.
The event, in which more than 300 kilograms of gunpowder will be exploded and burned, could even, if a spark were to fly, ignite the existing bush vegetation in the river, which is now very dry due to the time of year in which we are (…) with the consequent environmental impact, environmentalists point out in a press release.
Another of the most relevant consequences of the mascletá is the noise it generates. “The consequences on people with acoustic hypersensitivity and autism spectrum disorders have not been assessed. Nor has the impact on pets, especially dogs and cats,” he adds.
The renaturalization of the urban stretch of Manzanares is a successful environmental project, which has brought nature to the center of a large city like Madrid and whose fame has reached other cities and “beyond our borders.”
“A project of which the entire Madrid population is proud, and whose vocation is the conservation of nature and the enjoyment of it by citizens,” he underlines.
For all these reasons, Seo/BirdLife and Ecologistas en Acción ask the City Council to reconsider the action and decide to carry it out in another part of the city where environmental damage cannot occur.
The organization Animanaturalis has called a protest next Saturday, at 12.00, in the Plaza de Cibeles, to raise awareness of the “ordeal” that animals will suffer due to masculinity and to call for an end to the use of loud pyrotechnics.
And on Sunday, also at 12:00, one hour before the start of the mascletá, the neighborhood associations of the area (Manzanares-Casa de Campo, Puerta del Ángel and Príncipe Pío), as well as the Save the Casa de Campo platform, They have called a rally next to the King’s Bridge to say ‘no’ to this activity in that location.
