Leaders say automated mowers’ blades threaten nocturnal animals as studies highlight risks to wildlife
German mayors have called for a nationwide ban on night-time use of robot lawnmowers to protect hedgehogs and other small nocturnal animals from being killed or maimed in the dark.
Recent studies have highlighted the threat lawnmower blades pose to wildlife active between dusk and dawn, prompting growing calls for regulation. Hedgehogs also tend to curl into a ball when threatened rather than running away, making them harder for a robot mower’s sensors to detect.
“Many animals are active in gardens, particularly in the evening hours. They also depend on these green spaces in the immediate vicinity of residential areas,” said Claudia Kalisch, the vice-president of the German federation of cities.
Kalisch, who is the mayor of Lüneburg in northern Germany for the Green party, said cities had become substitute habitats for many of the mammals as property development and intensive agriculture encroach on their habitats.
