Poland has started putting up netting along its new razor-wire border fence to protect animals from being injured. The government has been bolstering its border with Belarus amid a surge in illegal crossings. But some have expressed concern at the impact on wildlife.
The 418 km border, which spans forested areas and has up till now been largely unfenced, is crossed by migration routes of various wild animals, including lynx, deer, bears, wolves and European bison.
Moreover, there have been cases of domestic animals, such as farm dogs, running into the razor wire, as witnessed by Notes from Poland while reporting from the area.
On Saturday, the defence minister, Mariusz Błaszczak, announced that netting, similar to that used along highways, would be set up to “protect animals from being injured”. On Sunday he added that it was already being installed “on both sides” of the border.
The military last week began putting up the new border fence, which consists of three layers of ringed razor wire. The first stage will include the construction of a 150 km section, followed by 97 km more later.
Green politicians have called the fencing “inhumane” towards people and “dangerous” to animals, reports Dziennik Gazeta Prawna. “It is nothing but a snare,” said Małgorzata Tracz, leader of the Greens, a party that is part of Civic Coalition (PO), Poland’s largest opposition group.
Na granicy polsko-białoruskiej rozpoczęliśmy już budowę siatki chroniącej zwierzęta przed okaleczeniem. Siatka powstaje po obu stronach ogrodzenia. pic.twitter.com/rUFZS0fTAJ
— Mariusz Błaszczak (@mblaszczak) September 5, 2021
Magdalena Gałkiewicz, the green party’s secretary, argued that the fencing would be “catastrophic” for “endangered and rare species” including lynx, of which there are only two hundred in the area, as they would not be able to breed with a wider gene pool across the border.
She added that local bison, bear and wolf populations could be “cut off from food” and begin hunting farm animals from nearby villages, which would “set off a campaign against these animals”.
The group said on Thursday that it had lodged a parliamentary interpellation and would also report the case to the prosecutor’s office, reports Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.
Poland has this summer faced an unprecedented number of illegal crossings from Belarus, mostly by Iraqis and Afghans. With support from the EU and Baltic states, the country has accused Minsk of deliberately facilitating the passage of migrants across the border in order to undermine neighbouring states.
In response to around 3,500 illegal attempted crossings in August, Poland put up a makeshift razor-wire coil last month. Then, on 23 August, the government said it would replace that structure with a 2.5m-tall fence.
The country has also deployed 2,000 soldiers to the area. On Thursday night, it introduced a state of emergency – Poland’s first in the post-communist period – in 183 towns and villages along the border frontier.
Under the new regulations, the authorities have barred non-resident civilians from entering the area and restricted public information about what is happening there. This has attracted concern from groups including Amnesty International and Reporters Without Borders.
Main image credit: Grzegorz Dabrowski / Agencja Gazeta
Maria Wilczek is deputy editor of Notes from Poland. She is a regular writer for The Times, The Economist and Al Jazeera English, and has also featured in Foreign Policy, Politico Europe, The Spectator and Gazeta Wyborcza.
