Hungarian Heritage Review, 1985 (14. évfolyam, 12. szám)
1985-12-01 / 12. szám
Storks nestling atop a chimney of a house on a quiet street in Sárospatak. These nesting places are being evacuated in favor of electric utility poles. —Photo submitted by Dr. Francis R. Bethlen PROTECTING AN ENDANGERED SPECIES Hungary, a Charter Member of the United Nations Environment Programme and a signatory of its Declaration, is concerned with and trying to bring under meaningful control air, water, soil, and other kinds of hazardous pollutions attributable to the toxic fallouts from demographical, agricultural, industrial, and commercial developments. One of the environmental problems caused mainly by rural modernization is the protection and preservation of endangered species of animal and bird life in general and the depletion of the country’s stork population in particular. This special concern for the protection, regeneration, and preservation of storks is deeply rooted in the unique personal relationship for centuries between this man-trusting species of the “wading bird’’ family (Ciconia ciconia) and the Hungarian peasantry. When their natural habitat of forest and marshland was invaded by predatory wildlife and their nesting places were destroyed by the drainage of inland waters for land reclamation projects, the large stork population of Hungary sought refuge in towns and villages. Welcomed by the people as harbingers of good fortune, storks, secure in the knowledge that their nests were protected, nestled atop the chimneys of thatched-roof dwellings in villages and the chimneys of buildings in towns throughout Hungary. So close was the relationship between these birds and the people that, by the early 1800’s, they symbolized Hungarian peasant life in folklore, folk music, folk arts and crafts, literature, and even in the poetical works of Sándor Petőfi (1823-1849). Throughout Hungary, but especially throughout the region of the Puszta (Great Plain), inns, taverns, and restaurants were named after them. The end result of this affection between bird and man was that Hungary eventually housed the densest stork population in all of Europe. Then came political, economic, and social upheavals which finally simmered down to the hustle and bustle of economic development. One of the victims of this period was the stork and, if a relatively recent revelation had not shocked Hungary into taking remedial action forthwith, the beloved bird of the Hungarian people would have become extinct. The International Council for the Protection of Birds (ICEP) began conducting stork counts throughout Europe. This study revealed that the stork population of Hungary between 1958 and 1974 had decreased by almost 50%. Later studies also showed a continued decline. When this news leaked out, the Hungarian people responded with appeals for action. Governmental authorities, in turn, responded with an official decree calling for the protection of storks, their nesting places, their eggs, and their young. Then, the Hungarian Ornithological Association proposed a solution. They recommended that the most effective way to protect and preserve storks was to resettle them in new nesting sites. But it was not until the National Office for Environment and Nature Protection joined forces with the Hungarian Electricity Board that their suggestion was adopted. Together, the National Office for Environment and Nature Protection and the Hungarian Electricity Board developed a nest-supporting structure that could be fitted on top of electric utility poles. These were mounted on every pole that had once been occupied by storks. It worked like a charm. Since “Stork Protection Years 1980-1981”, the stork population of Hungary has increased by almost 6,000 stork families and this rate of growth is continuing!
