GBR Press x2: Newts worth more than gold

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<u>BBC</u> (London, UK) 11 November 06 Newts get £300k re-homing project
A rare species of newt has won a victory for Britain's amphibians as Highways Agency bosses put their duty to nature above road-building.
The agency is spending about £300,000 to capture a colony of great crested newts near a £51m road project.
The newts have been relocated to make way for work on the Deeside Park junction of the A5117 in Cheshire.
Officials said a number had been caught so far but refused to confirm reports the figure was 15 - or £20,000 a newt.
A spokesman for the Highways Agency said: "The work is currently ongoing and a number of great crested newts have been trapped.
"It is not possible to give a final figure because the work is still under way.
"We have a duty to ensure newts are protected and moved to the safety of nearby ponds to avoid them being harmed during the construction of the road scheme."
The money has been spent installing 15 miles of special fencing near the junction to trap the newts, which are then re-located to the safety of nearby ponds.
Newt expert Dorothy Wright, from the Herpetological Conservation Trust, said: "When a lot of money is spent and only a few newts are saved it would be great if that money could have been spent to increase the viability of local populations."
Latest figures suggest there are about 100,000 great crested newts left in the UK, with the population falling by about 20% in the last 50 years.
The newts, which are a protected species under European legislation, breed in ponds but spend part of their life cycle on the land.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/merseyside/6138956.stm

<u>THE SUN</u> (London, UK) 11 November 06 Newts worth more than gold (Guy Patrick)
Photo: Special fencing ... used to trap newts
Taxpayers have coughed up a whopping £312,000 ($US 597,600/Eur 464,500) — to move 15 newts away from a new road junction.
It works out at a little under £21,000 to relocate each of the 200 gram Great-Crested amphibians.
That makes them worth almost twice their weight in gold.
The Highways Agency moved the newts because they are a protected species. They were relocated to nearby fields.
First plastic newt fencing was erected across farmland and 3,060 newt traps were placed along its 15 and a half mile length.
Conservation workers checked these daily and required a five-day newt-free period at the end of the project. The work ended on October 13.
The cost and installation of the newt fencing came to £153,000, maintenance of newt traps came to £52,000, and the cost of checking the traps daily was £107,000.
An Agency spokesman said: “Great Crested Newts are a protected species. The Highways Agency has a duty to ensure the newts are moved to the safety of nearby ponds to avoid them being harmed during the construction period.
“The cost of these measures is a very small portion of the overall project budget of £51.41 million.”
But even conservationists criticised the rescue of so few newts.
The Herpetological Conservation Trust’s newt officer Dorothy Wright said: “Sometimes it would be nice if we could use the money to enhance or create a really good habitat.
“Their numbers are declining quite badly. Making another population is more viable but that’s the way the law works.”
A resident who lives close to the proposed junction improvements in Saughall, Chester, said: “We never stop hearing about the lack of funds for schools and the NHS — and then we blow a fortune on newts. The world has gone mad.”
2-2006520510%2C00.html,http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2006520510,00.html
 
Well, it all depends on opinion of and individual. In my opinion, if there is a threatened species at risk, then the government should do everything possible to prevent further declines in population size. We still will make advances in technology, and one day you could find a miracle cure for a disease from that particular species. And to think, some people are willing to just turn their backs on them. If we do not speak for them, no one will. It would be nice if the gov't would just set up a large conservatory for the poor newts.

(Message edited by axolotl_jake on November 12, 2006)
 
Valid argument, however the question is not whether funds should be used to preserve a species. It is whether the funds used are used well. I don't think people mind money being spent as long as substantial conservation measures come out of it, but when hundreds of thousands of dollars are spent to move 15 newts from point A to point B (which is how this is perceived) then people are less likely to support future conservation action by the government.
 
Well that is just my opinion, the average jo doesn't care about the species.
 
Clearly somebody got some numbers wrong here.
There is no 200 gram crested newt for a start and about the money...well I think there is simply one 0 too much.
 
Yeah, I'd love to see a crested newt that weight almost a quarter pound!(that would be the day)
 
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