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Birds, bees and ballots: Swiss voters reject plan to better protect the country’s biodiversity
Birds, bees and ballots: Swiss voters reject plan to better protect the country’s biodiversity
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A poster for the No campaign ahead of a biodiversity referendum due to take place on Sept. 22, is seen in a field in Hoechstetten, Switzerland, Friday, Aug. 23, 2024, (Peter Schneider/Keystone via AP)
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A poster for the Yes campaign is seen in a garden ahead of a biodiversity referendum due to take place on Sept. 22, in Belp, Switzerland, Saturday, Aug. 24,2024. (Peter Klaunzer/Keystone via AP)
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A farmer walks with a horse across a flower meadow next to blossoming standard fruit trees on Friday, April 5, 2024 in Uster, Switzerland. (Gaetan Bally/Keystone via AP)
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Trees, bushes and reeds grow along on a tributary of the Aare, in the Belper Giessen floodplain and river area in Belp, Switzerland, July 27, 2024. (Peter Klaunzer/Keystone via AP)
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Flowers grow in an unfertilised agricultural meadow, on Sunday, 7 July 2024, in Saanen, Switzerland. (Peter Schneider/Keystone via AP)
By JAMEY KEATENUpdated 1:50 PM PDT, September 22, 2024Share
GENEVA (AP) — Switzerland, known for natural beauty like pristine lakes and majestic Alpine peaks, ranks among the world’s richest countries whose plant and animal life is under the greatest threat. Environmentalists were seeking better protections for the country’s biodiversity in a nationwide vote that culminated Sunday.
Final official results showed more than 63% of voters casting ballots had rejected the initiative that aimed to boost public funding to encourage farmers and others to set aside lands and waterways to let the wild develop more, and increase the total area allocated for green spaces that must remain untouched by human development.
The contest was decided by mail-in ballots followed by a morning of in-person voting Sunday.
Factors behind the weakening biodiversity in the country of rivers, lakes, valleys and mountains include intensified agriculture, soil alteration, a fragmentation of the landscape — such as the building of roads and housing that cut through wildlife habitats — and pollution and climate change, proponents of the measure said.
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The federal government — parliament and the executive branch — opposed the plan, as did many rural voters and the country’s main right-wing party, according to polls. They called it too costly, saying 600 million Swiss francs (over $700 million) is already spent on biodiversity protection each year, and fear economic development will suffer.
Passage was estimated to cost at least another 400 million francs for national and local governments, the Federal Council estimates. The initiative would also, for example, prohibit the construction of new railway lines through protected dry meadows — even if such meadow is set aside and developed elsewhere, it says.
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“Passage of the biodiversity initiative would severely limit (sustainable) energy and food production, restrict the use of forests and rural areas for tourism, and make construction more expensive,” argued the campaign for a “no” vote on its website. “YES to biodiversity, but NO to the extreme biodiversity initiative.”
Proponents, meanwhile, pointed to dwindling natural resources in Switzerland and threats to bees, frogs, birds, mosses and other wildlife. They argued that protected green spaces are “the main capital for tourism” and more of them would support local economies.
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“Diversified nature guarantees air purity, drinkable water, pollination, fertility of the soil, and our food supply,” said a committee that backed the idea. “But in Switzerland, biodiversity is suffering. One-third of all our plant and animal species are threatened or have already disappeared.”
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a think tank that counts 38 mostly rich countries as members, has produced a comparative look at threats to plant and animal life. Switzerland ranks among the top four countries with the highest rates of threatened species in all eight categories of wildlife.
The voting was part of the latest Swiss referendums, which take place four times a year to give voters a direct say in policymaking in the country of around 9 million people. The only other nationwide issue up for consideration this time was a pension reform plan backed by the government.
More than two-thirds of voters turned down the pension reform plan, the final results showed.
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8 bulls escape North Attleboro rodeo and charge through mall parking lot; 1 still on the loose
The bulls got loose from a rodeo at the Emerald Square Mall around 1:30 p.m. Sunday
By Staff and wire reports • Published September 22, 2024 • Updated on September 22, 2024 at 11:57 pm
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Eight bulls escaped from the rodeo at the Emerald Square Mall. All but one have been corralled.
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This is no bull: First responders in a Massachusetts city had to exercise some impromptu roundup skills when eight bulls escaped from a rodeo being held in the parking lot of a mall in North Attleboro on Sunday.
Video posted online captured the moment when the bulls escaped from the rodeo at the Emerald Square Mall. The animals charged through the crowded parking lot, knocked down fencing, bumped against a tent and rumbled toward busy U.S. Highway 1. They eventually headed for some nearby woods for short-lived freedom.
The North Attleboro Fire Department issued a warning: These rodeo bulls weren’t playing around.
“Community members should exercise extreme caution and not approach any bulls,” the agency said.
North Attleboro’s fire chief says firefighters were working a detail a detail at the rodeo at 999 S. Washington Street when they witnessed the eight bulls escape from their pen and flee into the woods behind BJ’s Restaurant and Brewhouse around 1:30 p.m.
No one was hurt during the breakout.
One bull was caught shortly after escaping, the fire department said. North Attleboro Fire and Police, along with Massachusetts Environmental Police, searched for the remaining seven. New England Rodeo members in Norton and members from the rodeo at the mall also assisted with search efforts.
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Many were shocked by what they saw Sunday, and took out their cell phones as the bulls took off down Route 1. But perhaps no one was more shocked than Attleboro resident Chris Mooney who saw the bulls walk down his street and through his yard.
“As soon as I stepped out and I looked out there I said those aren’t horses, those are literally bulls and oh my god,” he said. “Two of them were laying down and another was budging the fence trying to get out, and the other ones were just sitting there.”
Mooney and his two boys stayed inside and watched from a safe distance.
According to the fire department, six bulls were found stuck behind a fence at a home on Prescott Street in Attleboro around 4:30 p.m. The search team members were able to safely corral all six into a trailer without further incident.
Neighbors watched as rodeo employees worked to get the bulls into a trailer.
“At first I just felt bad for the bulls. I’m like – they escaped for a reason,” said Gee Sounthonevat.
Overall, people were happy to see the animals unharmed and taken away.
“They had a fence and they corralled them into the trailer and that was it,” Sounthonevat said.
While seven of the eight were corralled by late Sunday afternoon, one of them is still on the lam, firefighters said. First responders were still combing the streets for that remaining rogue bull.
Anyone who sees the bull that is still on the loose is reminded to not approach it. Instead call 911.
The Festival Rodeo at the Emerald Square Mall — a one-day event — was shut down, officials said. How the bulls escaped was under investigation.
