Robotic Lawn Mowers Endanger Hedgehogs
Nature-friendly green spaces, on the other hand, provide food, shelter, and safety. To protect animals, a little less tidying up and a little less order is called for.
Robotic lawn mowers are dangerously insensitive.
They are practical, quiet, and a life-threatening danger to small animals. Hedgehogs in particular fall victim to these garden helpers. Because hedgehogs don’t flee in the face of danger — they curl up into a ball. To ensure that these spiny creatures don’t pay the price for our convenience, the Swiss Animal Protection organisation STS recommends forgoing robotic lawn mowers altogether, or using them only during the day and under supervision.
The enemy has wheels and makes garden work easier: robotic lawn mowers are giving more and more garden owners a perfectly manicured lawn. The fact that such monoculture surfaces are ecologically almost worthless is one thing. But that the robotic lawn mower also poses a real danger to small creatures is another — and that is a matter of animal welfare.
Suppliers and manufacturers of these garden helpers repeatedly claim that modern devices with their sensors can detect animals and turn away in time.A recent study however, shows different results. Of 18 tested models, 11 pose a high risk of injury to young hedgehogs. They do not detect the spiny animals but instead run over them in such a way that the animals’ bodies come into contact with the sharp, rotating blades. Life-threatening injuries are the result, from which the animals in many cases die in agony. But it is not only animals that are at risk — small children are too.
At least seven of the tested robots stopped the rotation of their blades after a sensor registered that the device had been lifted following contact with an animal’s body. With the others, the injuries ranged, according to the study, «from minor skin abrasions and puncture wounds to the amputation of extremities such as legs and penises, through to complete evisceration and, in one case, partial decapitation«.
A little less tidying up
The Swiss Animal Protection STS recommends avoiding robotic mowers altogether. If they are used nonetheless, they should only be operated during the day and under supervision. Mowing by hand is better and more animal-friendly. And even better is designing green spaces to be close to nature. Providing a variety of structures is vital for the survival of many wild animals. Such niches offer food, shelter, and safety. To protect animals, a little less tidying up and a little less order is called for.
