Sixty of the keystone species released near Bordeaux to feast on waste from wild cattle and help restore a vital habitat on the Atlantic coast
, about 60 “ball rolling” insects were brought to the marshy forests of Étang de Cousseau in south-west France on Wednesday to restore a vital ecosystem function on the Atlantic coast.
The dung beetles will feast on the waste produced by dozens of wild cattle that roam the dunes, moors and marshes of the rewilding project, recycling nutrients into the soil. Dung beetle populations have decreased due to intensive farming. Anti-parasite treatments given to cattle leak into the waste the insects eat.The insects disappeared from the region in the 1960s as the feral cattle population declined. The last herd of free-roamingbreed was saved from the slaughterhouse by conservationists in the late 1980s.
Now, along with the wild cattle, the dung beetles are back, released in a field freshly prepared with cowpats for their arrival. “The dung beetle population all over the world has suffered a great decrease since the intensification of agriculture. Cattle and other domestic animals have been highly treated by farmers. The anti-worm and anti-parasite treatments leak into the waste and there’s been a huge decrease in dung beetles,” said Christelle Charlaix, an assistant warden at“Here, we have been working with a local breed of cows to manage the land. We do not treat them with drugs.
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