Wildlife Tunnels and Bridges

stevoman

i know this is not to do with shooting persay, but i think that their are a lot of people in this forum who will have a good opinion on this matter. this comes to mind after a conversation i had with somewhon about a farmer who is also a hunter who rang a local radio station and was talking about the goverment building tunnels and such under our motorways and bust roads to accomadate wildlife to cross safely and without harm from oncoming traffic. basically when the general public heard that the man was a shooter people where very quick to shoot him down, branding him cruel for hunting and being hypocrite and this got me thinking about (and angry!!!). i have seen documentrys about the work that goveremts in europe have done, after the fall of the iron curtain old migration routes where reopened to animals that have long not lived in western europe such as bears and the such and goveremts have built beutiful flyovers over motorways covered in tress and plants so that animals can move and migrate safely and i think that this is not only and great but touching thing to see these animals now move freely and safely arouind their habitates without being under the immediate harm of the modern world. i know of course that there is no need for such large measures in this country but i would like to know what opinions people have about tunnels and the such for smaller wildlife in this country that get killed by traffic on busy roads and motorways, as i travel on a motorway everyday and the amount of wilflife i see killed on the roads is a very large amount. i think that a programme by the go0verment to do such a thing would be a great idea. ( and please before we start this is a debate about these tunnels and not an arguement about hunting and antihunting like that other man who called the radio ended up in)

Clare gunner

Great idea,for the smaller critters.But the problem is for the bigger ones like deer and pigs.Hence the German idea of flyovers for animals. They stripped out all the East /West 2 mile wide former border and have declared it a green zone for animals.It is now used as a wildlife passage and critters like bears,wolves and lynx have started to come up from the South and East.
However the major difference is[1] They plan for this in the road building by law,and the fact that game laws are totally different on the Continent.It belongs to those whose reserve the motorway runs thru,not the landowner or farmer.
Plus if you think we have a problem buildng motorways here with things like Tara ,on the Continent motorways take decades to plan and impliment.Doing somthing like Tara would be unheard of.So wildlife safeways are a forgone conclusion.
Here OTOH,realistically we dont give two hoots about wildlife[apart from hunters and shooters that is].Roads are planned with no forethought and the attitude of "Shure get it down,them feckers will breed again anyway.Plenty of them."Plus it costs too much to build a tunnel or flyover.We cant even build proper flyovers for the traffic not to mind the wildlife.:(

Terrier

The NRA has some envirnomental protection methods in place !!
Yet to ever see any.. The new Galway to Ennis motorway is running right through my patch and I know they have already bullldozed through 2 fox dens and one badger set!

stevoman

terrier i think its high time they should be let know. nothing annoys me as much as wildlife having to pay the price for modernisation of any kind. i dont mean to sound like richard atinborough but people always forget the fact that when they refer to the wild they refer to the natural counrtyside and its animals. in truth its what man has created thats wild, everything else is natural.

Double Barrel

C.G.

I think you hit it right square in the center of the yoke.
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"Here OTOH,realistically we dont give two hoots about wildlife[apart from hunters and shooters that is].
Roads are planned with no forethought and the attitude of "Shure get it down,them feckers will breed again anyway.Plenty of them.
"Plus it costs too much to build a tunnel or flyover.We cant even build proper flyovers for the traffic not to mind the wildlife."
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Umiq88

think they're called enviroducts and tbh i'd be more concerned about them building the roads first buts thats a whole different argument.

tikkamark

There is one on them enviroducts in place going across the m50 in Dublin to the left of the large navan roundabout just before blanchardstown never seen another in the country though.And as was stated the only ones that really care about the wildlife,countryside and conservation are shooters.Road planers are only concerned about how there going to clear the habits out of the way:mad:

Clare gunner

Well, in fairness on the Ennis /Galway route.The motorway planners discoverd a ruined house with a fine colony of Horseshoe bats.
Being protected critters,a new abode had to be built for them.Which was just and duly done.A fine "bat house" was built in consultation with bat experts,enviromentalists etc.To the tune of 1.5 Million Euros!!!!!:eek:
So ,the bats now live in a residence that is worth more than some of our houses.This country gets battier by the day[night?]
I would have gladly rehoused them in my attic for free.They give the place a real cool "haunted house "look in Summer

CJhaughey

And guess how many bats are living in the new bathouse?
I believe the number to about 6.