Experts say fear of nature has become hysterical

Fear of wolves, ticks, stinging weever fish, poisonous plants and larvae has been blown out of proportion, experts told DR. They say people have become increasingly unfamiliar with nature and panic when new animals appear.

The debate over wolves has intensified, with a public meeting held in Egtved on Thursday evening to discuss the animals’ presence in Denmark. Stories about killer jellyfish, dangerous larvae and poisonous plants have also received widespread media attention this summer.

“The intense fear of larvae, wolves, ticks, weever fish and plants is being blown out of proportion. It is not just nature anxiety, it is hysterical,” said Rune Engelbreth Larsen, an author and intellectual historian who serves on the Danish Society for Nature Conservation’s scientific committee.

In Odense, the oak processionary caterpillar led to closed paths and an institution, as well as public meetings and demonstrations, after it appeared in private gardens. Wolves have also come close to people, and the pony Bellami was killed in Egtved.

Engelbreth Larsen said these stories make nature appear dangerous and hostile, even though it is beneficial and beautiful. He acknowledged that some people have lost livestock in wolf attacks or suffered severe rashes from wild parsnip, but said that the problem was the way such incidents were amplified.

“There is nothing wrong with being afraid of a wolf or avoiding a poisonous plant. The problem is when it is whipped up into something far beyond all limits,” he said.

People have become unfamiliar with nature

Rasmus Ejrnæs, a professor of biodiversity at Aarhus University’s Ecoscience institute, said the strong reaction to poisonous plants and dangerous animals showed that people had become unfamiliar with nature.

“When a new animal appears, whether it is a wolf or an oak processionary caterpillar, we go into some kind of panic,” he said. “That caterpillar does not come from hell. It is simply one of the magical creatures on planet Earth, a sign that there is life.”

Ejrnæs acknowledged that changes in nature can create challenges in towns and gardens. Large animals can be kept out with fences, he said, but people must find ways to live alongside smaller creatures.

Both Ejrnæs and Engelbreth Larsen called for experts to have a greater role in the debate. “We should of course hear all sides, but it is also important to keep things in proportion. Facts matter, but they have begun to play a very small role in the nature debate,” Engelbreth Larsen said.

Nature is not only cute animals and flowers

At the nature school in Kolding, children get close to hoverflies and toads. Nature guide Rune Kjærgaard Lange tells them that not all nature is beautiful and harmless.

“We need to become better at accepting that there are not only beautiful flowers and cute animals. There are also flowers that sting or are poisonous, and there are animals that bite,” he said.

Lange said people’s understanding and knowledge of nature had declined, despite the presence of nature guides in Denmark since the 1990s who were tasked with improving public understanding of the natural world.