Today’s award goes collectively to the Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council in South Wales, UK.
A cash-strapped council has been criticised for spending £190,000 [almost US $294,000] on a bridge – to allow dormice to cross the road safely.
Bosses at Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council in South Wales decided to erect three wire walkways above a new bypass to protect the rodent population.
Dormice will be able to use the bridge’s specially reinforced meshed cages to cross the road safely.
They believe the interconnecting passages, which are suspended from 20ft wooden poles, will keep mice away from traffic when the full £90 million [about US $139 million] Church Village bypass between Pontypridd and Talbot Green opens next month.
But critics have said the cost of the project is ‘obscene’ and have accused the council of getting its priorities wrong.
. . .
Nichola Thomas, 34, who lives near the bypass route in Llantrisant, said: ‘There are more pressing issues that the council could be spending money on.
‘I find it absurd that they have spent such an obscene amount of cash on this.’
There’s more at the link, including pictures of the ‘bridge’.
Ye Gods and little fishes! In a time of national austerity, when every government body from local, through regional, to national, is struggling to make ends meet, the Council spends almost a quarter of a million dollars on a bridge for pests??? That’s what dormice are, after all, when they get into human habitation; and in the wild, they’re hardly an endangered species, to put it mildly!
If the town or county council where I live decided to spend that much of their taxpayers’ money on something so monumentally wasteful, I daresay many of the residents would attend their next meeting bearing tar and feathers – if not ropes!
Bureaucrats! Grrr!
Peter
Check out the Davis Frog Tunnel. There's not one documented use by a frog (or toad) since the thing was built about twenty years ago.
Keep in mind that in the mid '70s, Davis would not allow a Mickey D's to be built within the ciry limits. They wanted to protest something or another. McD's built one just outside the city limits anyway.
The idea is that if a few can cross each year, it will make sure that there's a bigger genetic pool, which will help the species survive.
If the bridge lasts 20 years, that's roughly $5000/rodent.
Noone even considered placing a trap on each side of the road and release anything in it on the other side. They could even put a webcam and internet connection in the traps to monitor them, and still not spend anywhere near that kind of money.
Regarding $294,000 vs. $250,000 -Shouldn't "almost" be "more"? I feel better now… 🙂
WV: dradest- my dreidel is the bestest