Spain sounds alarm over bird deaths caused by padel courts
Animal rights groups and prosecutors in Spain are sounding the alarm over a large number of birds killed by flying into the glassed-walled padel courts, a hugely popular racquet sport in the country.
The fast-paced game, a mixture of tennis and squash, is played in teams of two on a court that is typically surrounded by glass walls which players can bounce balls off.
Spanish conservation group SEO/Birdlife is warning in a recently launched public awareness campaign that padel courts, like all glass structures, are a "barrier that birds do not identify as a threat" despite their highly developed sight.
As a result, birds regularly collide with the court walls, it added.
The group said it regularly finds dead swallows, blackbirds and warblers at the foot of padel courts.
The problem mainly affects young birds and is "exacerbated during migration periods" -- especially since padel courts are often built on the outskirts of towns and villages where there is more wildlife.
Animal rights activists have filed several lawsuits in recent years in Spanish courts about the problem, leading the public prosecutor's office to see if the padel courts are in breach of a new animal welfare law which took effect in Spain in September.
This law considers the mistreatment of animals to be a criminal offence, the office said in a letter sent on Monday to regional public prosecutors' offices across Spain.
The letter urged regional public prosecutors to make sure the "competent authorities" adopt "all the necessary measures" to avoid bird collisions with padel court walls.
Desde hace 2 años se impulsa en la Comunitat Valenciana el proyecto "redes que salvan aves" para concienciar sobre la problemática y conseguir mitigar este riesgo sin afectar al desarrollo de nuestro deporte.
Aquí toda la informaciónhttps://t.co/hbTa0m9EJI pic.twitter.com/dFMtwZIt5Z
— Federación de Pádel de la Comunitat Valenciana (@PadelCV) November 24, 2023
Among the solutions proposed by animal rights associations is placing stickers or nets on the transparent glass walls to make them more visible, a technique that was successfully tested in the eastern region of Valencia, according to SEO/Birdlife.
Created in the late 1960s in Mexico, padel is one of the fastest-growing sports in the world today.
Spain is considered the home of professional padel and some four million people, or roughly ten percent of the population, play the sport.
The country is home to 15,300 padel courts, out of a worldwide total of 40,000, according to consultancy firm Deloitte.
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The fast-paced game, a mixture of tennis and squash, is played in teams of two on a court that is typically surrounded by glass walls which players can bounce balls off.
Spanish conservation group SEO/Birdlife is warning in a recently launched public awareness campaign that padel courts, like all glass structures, are a "barrier that birds do not identify as a threat" despite their highly developed sight.
As a result, birds regularly collide with the court walls, it added.
The group said it regularly finds dead swallows, blackbirds and warblers at the foot of padel courts.
The problem mainly affects young birds and is "exacerbated during migration periods" -- especially since padel courts are often built on the outskirts of towns and villages where there is more wildlife.
Animal rights activists have filed several lawsuits in recent years in Spanish courts about the problem, leading the public prosecutor's office to see if the padel courts are in breach of a new animal welfare law which took effect in Spain in September.
This law considers the mistreatment of animals to be a criminal offence, the office said in a letter sent on Monday to regional public prosecutors' offices across Spain.
The letter urged regional public prosecutors to make sure the "competent authorities" adopt "all the necessary measures" to avoid bird collisions with padel court walls.
Desde hace 2 años se impulsa en la Comunitat Valenciana el proyecto "redes que salvan aves" para concienciar sobre la problemática y conseguir mitigar este riesgo sin afectar al desarrollo de nuestro deporte.
— Federación de Pádel de la Comunitat Valenciana (@PadelCV) November 24, 2023
Aquí toda la informaciónhttps://t.co/hbTa0m9EJI pic.twitter.com/dFMtwZIt5Z
Among the solutions proposed by animal rights associations is placing stickers or nets on the transparent glass walls to make them more visible, a technique that was successfully tested in the eastern region of Valencia, according to SEO/Birdlife.
Created in the late 1960s in Mexico, padel is one of the fastest-growing sports in the world today.
Spain is considered the home of professional padel and some four million people, or roughly ten percent of the population, play the sport.
The country is home to 15,300 padel courts, out of a worldwide total of 40,000, according to consultancy firm Deloitte.
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