RAUK - Archived Forum - Posts by DianeMaxfield:

According to a letter in British Wildlife Vol 16 Oct 2004 from Paul Cantwell, National Wildlife Management Team, DEFRA, Tony Phelps stated on page 326 that "... snake hibernation areas have the same protection as Badger Meles meles setts or bat collonies". Apparently not "... all snake hibernation areas are given the same protection from disturbance, damage or destruction, as this level of protection only currently applies to the Smooth Snake."

Any comments from anyone else about this? I suppose Mr Cantwell is right (although I hate to think my darling husband might actually have made a mistake!)

Also, I thought Tony might actually read this and it's easier to contact him this way now he is "up country" somewhere in South Africa.

As the woman currently married to the "eccentric old git", I can certainly confirm that this is not the first time that such "habitat management" has caused a rise in blood pressure.

I am extremely glad that Martin took the trouble to reply carefully to Jim Foster's post. From my own experience of working for a Borough Council, I know that the 50% of staff in local/national government employ who do a good, and sometimes imaginative, job can't make up for the other 50% of "jobsworths" - who do their job, follow the rules and never question whether what they are doing is right or not. Historically, things don't get changed or improved by people simply "doing their jobs". Eccentric old gits (assuming they know what they are talking about, as Tony does) keep the "jobsworths" on their toes.

I do hope something positive can come from this appalling act of offical vandalism - to say that reptiles (and we all know they were not the only animals displaced or killed) have been killed "incidentally" is just not good enough. One might just as well say that boys were killed incidentally when being used as chimney sweeps. Chimneys needing sweeping, but it didn't justify the mistreatment of children.

And that's the two pen'orth from the woman who has to tolerate the dead bodies amongst the frozen peas and the tanks of live reptiles in the living room!