Lidl is under fire after the construction of a supermarket in São João da Madeira, in the district of Aveiro, which destroyed the nest of a white stork that had “lived” in that location for more than 30 years.
Iris – National Environmental Association criticized Lidl and also the Institute for Nature and Forest Conservation (ICNF) for destroying the nest to build a supermarket.
This nest had been installed in a old industrial chimney of the city, at the initiative of a local group of students, teachers and firefighters. Three decades later, this group is among those critical of the situation.
The São da Madeira City Council ensures that in the licensing process for the new supermarket, “imposed chimney maintenance” and that “warned for the preservation of the nest”.
But, around two weeks after the Lidl construction site was removed from the shelter, the bird den was not reinstalled in the chimney, which was preserved in the parking lot of the new commercial area.
No other structure was created nearby to prevent bird migration.
License issued by a technician who didn’t even go to the location
The Iris association speaks of a “Lidl’s reprehensible intervention“, highlighting that “it was based on a license issued by the ICNF, dated the beginning of December and prepared by a Vila Real coachwho did not go to the location”.
“The license authorized the company to temporarily remove the nestfor any maintenance work on the chimney, as long as it was not already occupied”, adds Iris.
The association recognizes that Lidl has “until the end of next February” to carry out the “mandatory nest replacement“, but understands that the removal of the stork shelter should not have occurred because it was already occupied by the birds.
“On the day of the removal, the storks already occupied it and presented all the typical ‘dating’ behavior preparatory and indispensable for laying and incubating eggs”, claims Iris.
“Scientifically and ethically indefensible”
In this sense, the association also accuses the ICNF of intending to “convince us that occupation presupposes the already existence of eggs and incubation, which is scientifically and ethically indefensible“.
The argument that the nest was removed to ensure chimney safety it also raises questions for Iris.
“The structure is unsafe and yet the supermarket and car park are open to the public?”, asks the association.
After a meeting between the association and Lidl, the company showed “availability to promote the urgent and immediate installation of three alternative nests in many other chimneys in the surrounding area”, adds the Iris statement.
However, when asked to carry out the operation, the supermarket chain allegedly “refrained from taking on the civil liability for damages or accidentswhich led to the refusal of the owner of the new chimney to accept the placement of the nests.
Thus, “the placement of the nest, which would be a true alternative to the destroyed one, making nesting possible this year” was ineffective.
ICNF does not comment on Iris’ allegations
ICNF source began by admitting to Lusa that “authorized the removal of a nest of white stork, immediately establishing a set of conditions, including its replacement by the end of February”.
Afterwards, the organization informed the same news agency that “they will be installed two artificial nests in close proximity” to the supermarket, highlighting that Lidl is “responsible for placing” these shelters.
As for the birds’ original shelter, it must also be “replaced in the chimney as soon as the works to reinforce the structure are completed”, points out the ICNF.
The entity did not comment Iris’ allegations that the license to remove the nest had been issued without an on-site inspection, and that the structure had been dismantled when birds were nesting in it.
Lidl promises to replenish its nest by February
The , in turn, states that the chimney of the original nest “not at risk of immediate fall“, but which, due to its antiquity, needs to be rehabilitatedto guarantee the appropriate “safety conditions, both for the population and for the storks”.
The company adds that the authorization granted by the ICNF “requires that the nest be replaced by the end of February” and says that it is “actively working” to reinstall the bird shelter within this period, “in better conditions than those initially verified”.
Regarding the willingness to create alternative shelters, Lidl does not comment on Iris’s accusation that it refused to take responsibility for operations in the factory willing to house the new shelter.
“O Lidl voluntarily proposed to finance the installation of additional nests, and we are currently awaiting the identification, by the competent authorities, of suitable locations available for this purpose”.
