People > Great Crested Newts

by John Hawkins | March 27, 2008 1:40 am

One of the differences between conservatives and animal rights wackos is that conservatives put a significantly higher value on the lives of people than animals. Not so the wackos.

For example, take a look at what’s happening to this poor couple in Britain[1],

Since floods ruined their :£1million home, John and Margie Histed have been squeezed into a caravan in the grounds.

That was eight months and :£250,000 worth of repairs ago.

Yet the couple still can’t move back into the house – because the great crested newt apparently got there first.

The slippery squatter was discovered when a blocked drainage ditch near the couple’s garden sent water coursing through the property again last week.

This time, because carpets have yet to be laid and renovations incomplete, the damage was minimal.

But the Histeds’ plans to unblock the defective ditch have been refused – because officials suspect a family of great crested newts has settled in to it.

They have ordered a three-month survey to look for the protected species but this cannot even begin until June.

Work to remove any amphibians found would then take several more months.

This means the Histeds have had to put their renovations on hold, terrified that the ditch could flood again.

“I know it’s the law but it’s very frustrating and bordering on the ridiculous that the fate of newts takes precedence over humans,” said Mrs Histed, a 68-year-old retired doctor.

“Is it reasonable for us to just sit here and watch if the ditch floods our home again just because there may be some newts there?”

It’s “bordering on the ridiculous that the fate of newts takes precedence over humans?” Wow, the Brits really have a penchant for understatement, don’t they?

Endangered or not, the lives of a gaggle of newts isn’t worth keeping people out of their own home for a week, much less months. And the very idea that it’s better for a human being’s home to be flooded rather than to risk killing some Newts that may or may not even be there, is pure madness.

It’s one thing to make a good faith effort to safeguard the animals we share the planet with and quite another to place a higher value on a few newts than human beings. Unfortunately, the latter is what is being done in this case.

Endnotes:
  1. take a look at what’s happening to this poor couple in Britain: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=546432&in_page_id=1770

Source URL: https://rightwingnews.com/uncategorized/people-great-crested-newts/