CHEONGJU, Korea, June 17 (Korea Bizwire) – A huge flock of white herons inhabiting a hill behind a middle school in Cheongju is annoying the school’s students and teachers. According to Cheongju Nam Middle School, hundreds of white herons are living on the hill behind its annex hall.
Photographers and passers-by marvel at the group dance of the huge flock of birds, but the students, teachers and other school workers are suffering from an onslaught of feathers and foul smells. In particular, cooks who prepare food for the 1,000 students are suffering the most, because they cannot open any windows for fear of letting feathers in.
However, the school is without recourse, as the hill is owned by the nearby Cheongju National University of Education. As a desperate countermeasure, students’ parents will ask city authorities to thin out the pine forest to reduce the birds’ habitat.
Image Credit: Yonhap / photonews@koreabizwire.com
Birds and other creatures have a right to live, the world does not consist only of humans. That is a nesting colony, the birds are raising chicks. The birds are not dangerous. If the cooks are worried about feathers, they should simply install gauze netting over the windows. Certainly any “thinning out” of the forest should at least wait until the chicks have fledged in October.
Most cultures regard nesting birds as good luck- the chool should view the birds as a mascot. There really is little smell from bird droppings-guano- I believe that is much exaggerated. The school has an unrivalled chance for a science and ecology project on their doorstep, never mind that so many tourists enjoy the spectacle. People must learn to live alongside other creatures instead of destroying and pushing them out at every turn.