Winter quarters for bats in the Siebengebirge Safety technology to prevent unauthorised entry into the Ofenkaulen

Königswinter · One of the most important winter roosts for bats in North Rhine-Westphalia exists below the Petersberg in Königswinter. Because there have apparently been more break-ins in the Ofenkaulen cave system in the Siebengebirge recently, heavy security technology is now being used.

 These red signs clearly indicate that the paths leading to the Königswinter Ofenkaulen may not be entered. Photo: Frank Homann

These red signs clearly indicate that the paths leading to the Königswinter Ofenkaulen may not be entered. Photo: Frank Homann

Foto: Frank Homann

Conservationists in the Siebengebirge are sounding the alarm: in recent months, there have been repeated cases of the curious and party-goers gaining access to the Ofenkaulen in the Siebengebirge in contravention of the law. In the multi-storey cave system not far from the access road to Petersberg, trachyttuff has been mined since the late Middle Ages for the construction of the Königswinter baking ovens. Today, the area in the Siebengebirge nature reserve is one of the most important winter quarters for bats in North Rhine-Westphalia. As the General-Anzeiger learned, modern technology now protects the hibernation of the flying mammals, some of which are rare.

A renewed steel gate and a new alarm system now secure the oven owls. The Office for Environment and Nature Conservation of the Rhein-Sieg district, the Arnsberg district government, the police and the town of Königswinter put their heads together for this project. "After the entrance to the Aero-Stollen was regularly broken into in the past years and decades, although it was secured with increasingly massive locks, an alarm system has now been installed in the gallery on behalf of the Lower Nature Conservation Authority," explains Antonius Nolden, spokesman for the Rhein-Sieg district, when asked by the General-Anzeiger. According to GA information, cameras have also been installed. But Nolden did not confirm this.

He did, however, confirm that the Ofenkaulen is "one of the most important winter quarters for bats in NRW". The massive steel gate at the tunnel has been renewed and the alarm system has been installed so that these bats can no longer be disturbed during their hibernation by "illegal adit walkers". The new gate was installed by the Arnsberg district government as the higher mining authority on behalf of the owner of the Ofenkaulen, the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Nolden reported. The spokesperson emphasised that there are trails leading to the cave system, but anyone using them risks a fine. "The existing trails leading to the entrances of the Ofenkaulen must not be used," said Nolden. The Rhein-Sieg-Kreis's public order service is regularly on site to monitor compliance with the ban, he adds.

One of the most important winter roosts for bats in NRW

"The Ofenkaulen are considered a kind of lost place. However, they may not be entered," says Michael Beyer, spokesman for the Bonn police, when asked by the GA. Because of the burglaries in the caves, he said, the Crime Prevention and Victim Protection Department was on site in an advisory capacity to support the project and prevent break-ins. "It was just a matter of stopping people at this point," Beyer said.

The public order office of the city of Königswinter is also involved in the protection project. "In fact, we as the city have only been directly involved and informed about the course of the meetings and the measures that are now to be initiated," says Florian Striewe, spokesman for the city of Königswinter. The Lower Nature Conservation Authority had contacted the Bonn police "because people keep entering the mine system with the countless caves located there", Striewe continues. The result of the talks: the installation of an alarm system.

Hans-Peter Lindlar, chairman of the Verschönerungsverein für das Siebengebirge (Beautification Association for the Siebengebirge), appealed urgently to all visitors to the Siebengebirge not to use the illegal paths - not only at the Ofenkaulen, but in the entire nature reserve. Lindlar recalled that the Siebengebirge, together with the Neander Valley and the Lüneburg Heath, was the first landscape in Germany to be declared a nature reserve (NSG) 100 years ago by the government of the Reich at the time and has since been classified as a Fauna-Flora-Habitat (FFH), the highest level of European nature conservation. "Visitors to the Siebengebirge must adapt their behaviour to this high need for protection," says the VVS chairman.

"For example, the paths in the nature reserve must not be left on foot or by mountain bike, because on every metre of trampling path or biker trail, plants and small creatures are trampled underfoot or ploughed under by the tyre tread," says Lindlar. In addition, every person who walks, runs or rides a mountain bike disturbs and drives away the game. "This is all the more true when dogs are carried along or even allowed to roam without a leash, which is forbidden.“

Easy-to-understand signs at all entrances to the nature reserve reminded people of these rules of conduct. "In addition, for the Siebengebirge nature reserve, a path plan established by decree of the Cologne district government prescribes which paths may be used by hikers and/or cyclists," says the former district president of Cologne. Among other things, this decree also gives the regulatory authorities the possibility to punish violations of the prohibitions with fines.

(Original text: Mario Quadt; Translation: Mareike Graepel)

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