The ring-necked parakeets are a colorful addition to the urban wildlife of the Netherlands. Or: are they? These exotic birds once escaped from cages in cramped homes, likely for the first time in the 1960s in The Hague. They then made a triumphant flight through the city’s parks and public gardens. Quite symbolically, during the renovation of The Hague’s Binnenhof, where the Dutch Parliament is located, construction workers came into conflict with the birds, whose excessive gnawing caused significant damage. In this visual essay, Tânia A. Cardoso analyzes this specific human-animal conflict in light of the question: How can humans and other animals coexist in the city of the future?
