Neighbors take care of the animals at Campo Mártires da Pátria and warn about the lack of food and water

At around 6pm on a Friday, the garden of Campo Mártires da Pátria is full of people. Children playing, neighbors walking their dogs, young and old socializing or resting on the benches, couples dating with their towels spread out on the grass, passers-by getting off their buses... In the middle of all this commotion, we meet "Jéssica". She arrives in the garden with a box of seeds in her hand, which she quickly spreads on the grass. Ducks, ducklings, geese, hens and chicks suddenly appear, fighting each other because they all want the same thing: to get to the food. The young woman kicks the pigeons so that the chicks, the most fragile beings, don't run out of food.

"Jéssica" is not the only one feeding the animals that freely inhabit Campo Mártires da Pátria, in the parish of Arroios, in Lisbon. He says he does it because he lives nearby and thinks that the food and water provided by the Junta de Freguesia is insufficient. "What I've heard, I've never seen it myself, is that someone comes to put food out once a day in a specific place, but I think it's always the same animals that get access. The pigeons, for example, end up taking everything. Geese too. The smaller ones, like the chicks, are always asking for food"says.

"I buy a specific feed for birds, but I see that some people bring food that isn't specific. For example, bread isn't the best food because it has salt in it"he adds. "But maybe I don't have the knowledge to feed these animals in the right way. Maybe this feed isn't the best, maybe I'm not giving the right amount, maybe I can't feed all the animals equally." Jéssica says that she is not in favor of anyone feeding the animals at Campo Mártires da Pátria precisely because they may not know how to do it.

"The problem is that if they're hungry, it's better for people to feed them than for them to starve to death"he says. Jéssica says she's coming "practically every day" to feed the fauna of Campo Mártires da Pátria, and took the opportunity to come with his son, who "likes to play a lot" in the garden. "This is an expense, yes, but that's not a problem."

Volunteers talk about dead animals

In recent days, some residents and neighbors of this garden have been mobilizing via WhatsApp to report cases of dead animals. They report that, since January this year, there have been 39 victims in this green space in the city - a figure that LPP has not been able to confirm; they say that the food and water provided by the Arroios Parish Council is not enough for all the animals in the space and that there is no care taken to ensure that the little ones have access to this food. "We once saw the Junta lady sign the time book, which is posted there, without leaving any food. But that went out on social media and half an hour later the food appeared, which hadn't been there for the last few weeks"", says "Lucas", a fictitious name, one of the attentive janitors of the fauna at Campo Mártires da Pátria. "In the week of the [June] holidays, nobody gave food"he contests.

"Lucas" grew up in Brazil surrounded by ducks, chickens and other animals, and when he moved to Lisbon some 15 years ago, he was amazed at the existence of a garden where the animals run wild among people. Recently, he says he began to see "a few different things"such as ducks, teal, geese and chickens. "abandoned here"who, because they don't know the territory, end up being run over. "A white goose, which was abandoned on the same day as the female, didn't have much of a sense of territory, went to cross the street down there, where the exercise equipment is, and ended up being run over." "Lucas" knows all the animals at Campo Mártires da Pátria: those who arrive, those who are born, those who are being born, those who disappear, those who suffer accidents... "We now have two broods of chicks, plus two that hatched this week. We have three broods of ducklings..."he says. "I've started coming to the garden more often because I've become attached to the animals, especially the ones that are being born. I want to follow their growth."

It's in a WhatsApp group with two other neighbors - "Marta" and "Camila", also fictitious names - that "Lucas" shares the community surveillance of the fauna of Campo Mártires da Pátria, not only warning of the birth or appearance of new animals, but also of incidents with the older inhabitants. Through WhatsApp, they coordinate the distribution of food and water. "We usually put these containers with water in them. We've been told not to put them there because they look ugly in the garden, so we try to put them half-hidden, under the bushes and trees."explains the young Brazilian. As for food, they usually bring corn. "I bring food, especially for the little ones, because they are developing and because I don't want them to starve. The big ones can still reach the food that the Junta leaves, but the little ones can't eat anything."

"Lucas" says that there should be more food and water tanks scattered around the garden. "Look at the size of this space and the number of animals. A single small container, like the one we have, can't hold them all." "There are some animals that already know me and when I pass by they come after me. It's annoying when sometimes I pass by with nothing and the animals come after me. It hurts my heart to see the animals begging for food, because it was a holiday, Saturday or Sunday and nobody fed them"he contests. "Lucas", "Marta" and "Camila" - who met in the garden while each was looking after the animals and decided to join forces via WhatsApp - even met with the Arroios Parish Council in November last year, presenting problems and solutions to improve the welfare of the animals in Campo Mártires da Pátria. But they say nothing has been done.

"Since then, we've had no response. We were very well received at the meeting, but until then we had no solutions and the problem with the garden has only got worse since then"witness "Camila", who said she had found animals in recent months "bruised, a bit haggard and hungry". "Marta" corroborates: "We've seen the suffering of the animals, so we started looking after them ourselves." Pointing to a red building in the middle of the garden, "Marta" says that "Before, the smaller animals were kept inside that house, so they had a refuge and survived longer". "For example, last week I passed by and there were three dead little ducklings"he says. "There's also an 86-year-old lady, who isn't part of our group but loves us very much, who is always out and about, carrying her trolley, super frail, trying to help the animals"Camila adds.

In addition to increasing the number of food and water points, and better care by council employees in distributing this food - to ensure that the smallest animals eat - the group suggests banning the movement of people and pets on the lawn around the lake, and also clarifying the uses of each space in the garden. Another idea is to put up signs to raise awareness of the obligation to keep pets on a leash, especially dogs, with fines. "Unleashed dogs are a problem here"says "Marta".

Junta says animals are not starving

The photos and videos of dead animals that are circulating on WhatsApp, in a larger group of neighbors, are several months old and mostly show injured animals. The Arroios Parish Council assures LPP, with "absolute certainty" that "The animals aren't starving, not least because of the breeding that goes on: there have been litters of ducks, chickens..."and states that, in addition to providing "good quality food" for the animals in Campo Mártires da Pátria, there is continuous monitoring of this fauna with the Lisbon Animal Ombudsman's Office. For the municipality, the unleashed dogs and their owners' lack of care are the biggest problem, along with the existence of people distributing food without the proper knowledge.

The council says it is assessing the whole situation and studying various solutions. One of them could be to improve the signage at the entrance to the garden so that people don't feed the animals themselves and don't let the dogs run loose. Another possibility could be to restrict people's access to the animals by creating one or two enclosures for the ducks, chickens and geese to be in. The Mártires da Pátria Field "it's not a farm, it's an open garden in an urban space"; and so there are dynamics that cannot be escaped, but the Junta wants to "minimize" the situations as much as possible. "There are improvements that can be made, both for humans and the animals that live there, but also for the plant species that exist there."

"Lucas", "Marta" and "Camila" promise to keep in touch and take care of the animals at Campo Mártires da Pátria, as far as they are able. Jéssica, even though she is not part of the group, also wants to continue helping. And, in addition to these people, there are more neighbors and residents volunteering for the common good.