larve

[sean k]

hi i went to a local pond a few days ago and was shocked to see that the whole pond was nearly dried up, there was a bit of water left in there and one thing i was supprised to see was aroung 150 great crested newt larve moving around in the dried up pond i saw quite a few dead ones i no that it is illegal to toutch them but i couldnt just let them die there as this was a large population of larve hear so i ran to the part where there was water and filled a container up with water and picked handfulls of them and put them in the part which had water hear are some pictures:

[Parky]

Think you did the right thing, although, you better hope the police arent watching this forum

[sean k]

i would take the punishment as long as i know i helped them out. and didnt just let them die.

[ip3kid]

nice 1 m8 , i had to do this a few months back, my teacher was getting rid of her pond, so i rescued all the newts,frogs,toads and a few common lizards that were hanging around so they didnt get eaten by her cats

[suey]

Well done Sean!

I rescued some fish a few years back from a virtually dried up pond in the local woods....140 of them!! It was goodbye garden, hello pond. My OH was not impressed!

[Saedcantas]

As tempting as it is, it's best not to interfere with nature if you can avoid it.

Ponds fill and dry seasonally, the strength of populations is maintained by only the fittest individuals surviving to breed the next year.
If you artificially save weaker animals which have failed to leave the water early enough to survive, you are allowing those less efficient animals to compete with more suitable individuals for food etc.

Helping isnt always what it seems and conservation sometimes means allowing things to die.

[Pliskens_Chains]

i wouldnt have been able to leave them either!!!
these newts are getting rarer and rarer and i think its a good thing you tried to help the species continue to survive.

[Punchfish]

ooooohhh, your nicked buddy. Just give me your home address and I'll come round with the cuffs. Good job though as some laws are just stupid.

[sean k]

Saedcantas you said: If you artificially save weaker animals which have failed to leave the water early enough to survive. this pond has never dried up before. only one or two of the ones i found would have suvived as the rest were still larve and that is like putting a fish in mud they just die.

[Saedcantas]

All I'm saying is, you would have been better to contact local environmental agencies who no doubt are aware of their existence in those ponds and allow them to take action they see fit or not.

There is a reason these animals are protected and "saving" isnt always as simple as it seems.
I doubt this would be the first year, perhaps it dries up every few years or once per decade. Either way, whether it is going to dry up every year from now or every tenth year, these animals need to adapt to that situation and you arent helping.

To cut a long story short, larvae that dont leave the water before the seasons end werent meant to make it, helping them to do so allows them to potentially spawn more "slow" larvae in years to come, will you be there to net them out everytime?