Switzerland to kick out cormorants

A group of cormorants has abused Swiss hospitality by eating too many fish, forcing authorities to approve measures aimed at kicking out the unwanted migrants. The coastal natives used to come to Switzerland on a sporadic basis to escape harsher winters further north, but since 2001, some 260 cormorant couples have nested on two islands on Lake Neuchatel. While their permanent residence at the country's biggest natural bird reserve had been greeted with enthusiasm by bird-lovers, their appetite for fish from the lake has provoked the ire of fishermen. To control the population of cormorants, local authorities can now close off access to part of the lake's shoreline, and "remove the residual nests from the previous season".

Follow Emirates 24|7 on Google News.