Residents of Weststadt Gmünd are visited by deer.
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What kind of persistent visitors do the residents of Gmünd Weststadt have to deal with and how do people react.
Schwäbisch Gmünd. When the married couple Gabi and Thomas Knis talk about the animal visitors in their garden on Erwin-Rommel-Strasse in the west of Gmünd, the listener can’t help but laugh. Deer have been regularly visiting not only Knyscy, but also nearby neighbors for several years.
This may cause collective delight at first, but in the meantime, the inhabitants of the street perceive the animals almost as a nuisance. In 2015, she first noticed damage to her roses, Gabi Knis recalls, and blamed it on an unknown plant disease, but dead leaves and flowers were missing as “evidence.”
Not long after, she and her husband saw their “guests” watching from the bedroom window, four deer having fun in Kny’s plantings. “The deer went into the garden and ate all the young shoots and rose buds,” says Gabi Knys. Roses on Erwin-Rommel-Strasse must be of exceptional quality; Hoofed game came more and more often, meanwhile, the rhythm has almost been established, the couple says: the animals come “for breakfast” in the morning, and after lunch they take a nap in a sunny place.
The visitors can hardly be driven away: they shout, clap their hands, approach them, the forest dwellers only look almost mockingly at all this, this is the impression of the residents.
The Knees and their neighbors invested a lot of money in “deer protection”. Motion detectors that control the lamp, or ultrasonic repellers of animals – all this prompted the animals to leave their territory only for a short time. The motion detector that caused dogs to bark worked best: it was great, but the device barked at any time of the day, “night rest was out of the question.” Even the fence, which is about 1.50 meters high, is not an obstacle for visitors, one corner of the fence was even simply moved to gain better access to the area, says Gabi Knis, who, despite everything, can’t hold back a smile.
Where do animals come from? The couple can only imagine that the deer are at home in the overgrown area below their house or on the construction site next door, and “they come to Erwin-Rommel-Straße to graze.” Some neighbors now try to protect their plants with “bug protection”, others even have to raise gates, the animals are clever and resourceful and always find their way to lush greenery.
An even higher fence?
For a couple, there is no question of protecting their large garden with an even higher fence, no one wants to live in a wing with an increased level of security. The joy of gardening is gone. Lettuce, herbs or roses? Everything in the tender greenery has already been eaten, the deer are “real gourmets”. Build a flower bed? “Then it’s even easier for the animals.”
But the couple sees even more dangers, the “guests” recently even feel comfortable on the street, cars do not disturb them, the road to Goethestrasse is only a few dozen steps from the Adjudantenstaffele and who counts here. in the heart of the city with wildlife on the roadway. Chief Forester Jens-Olaf Weiger explains that, like other wild animals, deer are creatures of habit that adapt to their environment, but makes it clear: “learned behavior” is not genetically transmitted.
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